Misc Gear

New Balance Minimus MT10 Running Shoe Review

A few months ago, Carly reviewed the Merrell Road Glove 2, which is one of the most highly regarded minimal running shoes available. For the last year or so I have been running on Nike Free Run 3s, which are a ‘minimal-ish’ shoe with a small drop, very light construction, but still a decent amount of cushion. I’ve always been ‘minimal curious’, and on Black Friday last year I found a great deal on the New Balance Minimus. The shoes I got had serious issues and I needed to return them, and basically gave up. But apparently I left them on…

Detail Bags, Corporate Solutions by Skooba Design

Editorials

Detail Bags Creates Custom Solutions for Company Bag Branding

I don’t know how many times I have wished that I could create a laptop bag from my own specifications — one that would have the layout and organizational panels I needed (or wanted), and that would be made from the materials of my choosing; having a discreet Gear Diary logo on there somewhere would be a bonus. But I’m just one person, and the cost for me having something like that custom-made would be exorbitant … never mind the fact that I wouldn’t even know where to start. But if a company wanted to offer a bag that was specifically…

Crowdfunding, News

The Arriba! Adapter Is a Brilliant 2-in-1 iPhone 5 Charging Solution

You’re in your buddy’s car, and your iPhone’s battery is low. Typical, right? And of course, you forgot the Lightning cable for your iPhone 5. Your friend has a car charger, but it’s for his 30-pin iPhone, and he’s using it anyway. Buried under an open bag of chips and some diaper wipes, he has an old microUSB cable. That’s not much help, is it? Or maybe it is, if you happen to have the Arriba! Adapter attached to your keyring. Plug in that microUSB cable, stick the Arriba! Adapter’s Lightning plug into your iPhone 5’s port, and plug the…

Reviews

Ooma Telo VoIP System Review – Functions Like a Landline While Saving You Money

We pay a fair chunk of change for our family cell phone plan each month. As a result, we opted not to add a landline when we moved into our new home. However, we had the opportunity to test out the Ooma Telo VoIP system, and it might just swing us into believing in having a dedicated line for the house. How does it work, and why is it persuading us? Read on to find out!

Health and Fitness

10 Tips for Running in the Summer Heat – The Monday Mile

Just over a week ago I was in Kentucky for work and commented on Facebook that I barely made it out of the hotel parking lot on my 4:30AM run before I was covered in sweat. Last week, Judie noted that she got a late start and that it was 98F while she was running; her pace slowed considerably while she ran as the heat took its toll. Suffice to say – hot weather has arrived across much of the nation, and it is time to think about running in the heat. Here are some tips to keep safe: Hydration: hydration…

Reviews

The Lifesaver Filtered Water Bottle Review

There are a few basic necessities that all humans need to survive: Food, Water, and Shelter. Shelter can be built by people with materials one finds throughout the world; wood, stone, sand, clay are all examples of items that can be found in nature in order to build and provide shelter for humans. Food can also be found by either scavenging or hunting and there are simple ways to prepare food with fire. However, clean, drinkable water can be extremely difficult to find and there are no real fool proof ways to ensure that one can remove all bacteria, viruses,…

Reviews

Keep Your Teeth Clean with the Cenoire Ultra Travel Toothbrush

They say that cleanliness is next to godliness. I’m not sure about that, but I do know that fresh breath is a great way to help make a good first impression. When you are traveling or have a 16 hour work day that can be a bit of a challenge unless you have something like Cenoire’s travel toothbrush with you. The toothbrush is one of the simpler pieces of tech we have reviewed here on the site, but it is actually one of the more universal pieces of kit and belongs in pretty much any gear bag. The sonic toothbrush…

Events

Dayton Hamvention 2013 – The Hams Were There

One experience I have yet to share about ham radio is the experience of the Ham Fest. A Ham Fest is not where you go and eat ham with your fellow radio operators. It is a conference where you can go to learn about the rigs, get training, and buy things! Think CES combined with a state fair, and you’d have it half-right. There is no better hamfest out there, in my opinion than the one, the only, the Dayton Hamvention. A Little History The Hamvention came to being in 1952, when the Dayton Amateur Radio Association in Dayton, Ohio…

Reviews

Koala Mount for Tablets Keeps Your Tablet Hanging Around

If you use a tablet and love having it handy and accessible the idea of being able to quickly and easily mount it on the wall may be attractive. The Koala Mount for tablets is designed to let you do just that in an easy, inexpensive way that won’t damage any surface. The Koala Mount is, as my contractor father-in-law calls it, a “handyman special”. In other words, the Koala Mount is easy enough to install that… even I could do it. In fact… I did. The Koala Mount for tablets is a simple product. It features Simple setup using…

Reviews

The Gtech AirRAM Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Review

In our home we have a Welsh Pembroke Corgi, three girls with shoulder-length or longer hair, and three mohair rugs; there are days when I am not sure who or what sheds worse. We have a conventional upright vacuum cleaner, and although it works well enough, it is a pain to have to get it out. As you likely know, in order to use a traditional upright vacuum cleaner, you generally have to get it out of a storage closet, unwind the cord, plug it in, and move it about as needed; I’m not sure about your upright vacuum, but…

Reviews

BROpener Lets You Turn Any Surface Into a Bottle Opener

Summer is here, and that means sun, fun and beer. It also means that GearFest 2013 is coming soon. THAT means we’ll be enjoying lots and lots of IPAs. After all they are Kevin’s favorite, and he has made an IPA-lover out of me too. Last GearFest our bottle opener saw a good bit of use. This year it will be staying in the drawer, because instead of using a standard bottle opener, we will be using the BROpener. The BROpener was a successful Kickstarter project that quickly, and easily turns any surface into a bottle opener. And while I…

Reviews

Baofeng UV-5RA Review: Can a $50 Ham Radio Be Any Good?

I hope you have been enjoying my series on Amateur Radio. It’s been one of my favorite hobbies for about 20 years now, and I love sharing my knowledge with our readers. Today I am bringing you another radio review, only the second one ever for Gear Diary. Just like when I reviewed the Icom ID-31A last year, this Baofeng UV-5RA review is coming from real-life experience with the radio.

Crowdfunding, News

Stor-More Key Safe Brings New Twist On Leaving Keys

It is common practice for people to leave a key or garage door opener hidden somewhere near their house. Maybe this just happens while on a trip so someone can feed the pets and water the plants, or maybe there is always one hidden. Either situation brings plenty of security issues. Whether the keys are under the door mat or hidden under a rock, someone could get access to the keys and burglarize or vandalize your home; I refuse to hide keys at my house for that very reason. A recent Crowd Supply project strives to solve this issue with…

Reviews

Head Over Heels for the Just Mobile HeadStand

Don’t let this happen to you… “Elana do you know where the Harman Karden NC headphones I’m reviewing are?” “Where did you last use them?” “If I knew that I wouldn’t be searching for them… Oh, got ’em!” “Where were they? Buried under the pile on your desk?” Yes, there is an advantage to keeping your headphones hung up and close by the way they are when you use the Just Mobile’s HeadStand. It prevents them from getting lost under a pile of papers. It keeps them safe and protected from someone who might sit on them after yo accidentally…

Reviews

New John Deere EZtrak Z235 Zero Turn Mower Takes the ‘Work’ out of Yardwork

In 1837, in a rural Illinois farming community, a humble displaced Vermont blacksmith fashioned a new type of plow from discarded materials, and John Deere Plow Works was born. The rest, as they say, is history – bathed in colorful “John Deere Green.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the company’s residential product line. The company recently invited me to “test drive” one of its newest zero-turn mowers. Of course, I jumped at the chance, as I already am a John Deere customer. John Deere brings its legacy of plowshares and farm implements to your yard, thanks to a…

Reviews

Travel HoodiePillow Hooded Travel Pillow Review

Welcome to part two of my two-part hooded pillow review humiliation. In Part One I came clean and related that, while still watching the good folks from HoodiePillow make their pitch on SharkTank, I ordered a hooded pillow case from them. The HoodiePillow is a quality pillowcase made from sweatshirt material. What makes this pillow case special is that, as the name indicates, it has a hoodie built right into it. And as if that wasn’t enough, the HoodiePillow also has drawstrings, a pocket for your phone or mp3 player and a cable pass-through so the headphones can run from…

Reviews

Tagg the Pet Tracker Review

I rarely give a “don’t buy” rating to gear. I try really, really hard to find some good aspect to products, because so many times the issues are opinion and not fact. A particular phonecase may not be my taste, but it could be yours, or I might miss a certain feature that someone else never uses. But then there are times when gear fails so miserably that I can’t in good conscience recommend it, and unfortunately my experience with Tagg the Pet Tracker falls into that category. It’s a shame, as Tagg has some really great features, but those…

Reviews

HoodiePillow, a SharkTank Product Pitch Product Review

I was watching SharkTank a few months ago when I saw the HoodiePillow pitch. I laughed … out loud. In part because the product sounds so silly, but also because we were pitched this product or something like it quite some time ago, and I thought it was a joke. What’s a HoodiePillow you ask? The Sharks asked the same question, and they were more than amused by the answer. The HoodiePillow is exactly what it sounds like — a hoodie that is also a pillow case. Put the HoodiePillow on your pillow, and you now have a “pillow with…

Reviews, Yum Log

Vejibags Keep Your Greens Greener

Now that April showers are giving way to May flowers, there are also plenty of wonderful greens coming up in farms and gardens. My family has been members of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share for years. If you’ve never participated in a CSA, basically the deal is that you pay a farmer in advance of the growing season in return for a bushel or half bushel of vegetables every week. We love having lots of fresh veggies that we know exactly where they came from, but being a two-person household it’s hard to get through all those greens in…

Reviews

STM Cable Wrap Review – Cords Kept Organized and Ready to Go!

If there is one lament I have heard my wife utter again and again in our technology filled house throughout the years, it is not about how everyone is on their devices too much … it is ‘those cords’! And while things have improved with wireless mice, headsets, smaller chargers, micro-USB for many devices and so on, there are still too many cords required; as a gamer I even need to have a corded mouse and headphones … and then there is my GPS watch and cable. When I travel I dump all of these things in my garment bag…

Reviews, Yum Log

Hermetus Bottle Opener and Resealer Review – Doesn’t Your Beer Deserve This Bottle Opener?

That question was, of course, rhetorical. Of COURSE your beer (or other bottled beverage) deserves a bottle opener as simple and useful as the Hermetus Bottle Opener and Resealer that Kaufman Mercantile sent me to check out. Made in Germany, the Hermetus Bottle Opener and Resealer is a metal bottle opener that easily opens any bottle, but then it is also able to glide over the top and make a tight seal that helps keep beers from going flat or spilling. Why would you need such a device? Simple… This IPA is not only strong but it is huge. And…

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