AmScope 17 lbs Full-Size Professional Binocular Biological

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,900.00
Sale Price: $337.98
Today's Bonus: 82% Off

I purchased this microscope as a birthday present for my 16 year old. He has received countless microscopes, but, somehow always outgrew their capabilities. I wanted to purchase one that would carry him through college, without spending several hundred dollars. After researching several, I discovered this model and found it possessed many of the features of Celestron and other expensive brands without the cost. It arrived securely packaged within the time period promised. My son was thrilled with the clarity of the objectives and I was impressed by the quality. I highly recommend this microscope to all budding scientists!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Apple MacBook Pro ME665LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display

Customer Ratings:

I purchased the newest version (Early 2013) which had the upgrade to 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD.

The notebook is extremely fast. Computer seems solid, boots in 10-15 seconds from off, sleep to ready in 4-5 seconds. It opens programs in no time flat. It is not light as an air book, but still defiantly lighter than previous models. The screen is great, bright, and responsive. With heavy use I get about 5-5 1/2 hours of use on the battery.

Some peoples complaints are the new power adapter, I will agree with them, the new adapter sticks out further and gets knocked off a lot. Not having a dvd drive, not a big deal...I dont think i've used a dvd or cd in a computer in a few years! If I need to I will just have to purchase the external.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Elmo 1304 Model TT-02Rx 1.3 mp, 41.6x Zoom Teachers Tool Digital

Customer Ratings:

The Elmo TT-02RX is great for displaying most material for classes and demonstrations. Elmo now has a newer model that provides better color fidelity, so if you are showing opaque objects where true color is important, e.g. art work, then you should look into the more expensive model. The controls are easy to use, including the auto focus: it really is automatic and it really does focus! My Elmo TT-02RX has been a life saver for doing many a demo.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Adobe CS6 Master Collection

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $2,599.00
Sale Price: $2,250.00
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

Have had extended contact with Adobe about installation and registration of CS6. Have had to uninstall and reinstall, individual programs or entire suite at least 2 dozen times. The Adobe uninstall tool is a joke. I have had over a dozen calls with technical support. While some support staff seem to have some knowledge of the programs the majority continue to put you on hold with the resulting phone calls of up to 2 hours. Over 2 hours on several occassions. Some of the problems deal with poor language skills but they are mostly lack of familiarity of the registration part of the program. After about an hour many of the support staff get very nervous or frustrated and at least one stated that he had been working on my problem too long, minutes later I was mysteriously cut off and had to start another hour plus call with again no resolution. The one time that I was being turned over to a supervisor I was on hold for 1 and 1/2 hours with no one ever picking up I have used Smart Suite since CS2 and can now say that until they get the staff training up to speed technical support will be a disaster.

Adobe Support was always the state of the art for a US software company. Until buying CS6 I had not had to contact them in over 5 years for any problems! If I was an investor in this company I would be concerned with the company management that allows such poor customer service to thrive. We are very disappointed with Adobe.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Sennheiser HD 429 Headphones Black

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.95
Sale Price: $59.96
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

If you are in the market for headphones at this price point, you are likely looking at both of these models. I ordered both, tried them out side-by-side, and returned one. I kept the Sennheisers.

Let me start by saying that I am NOT an audiophile. I was looking for headphones to use with my iphone, that I could use at work at a reasonable volume without disturbing, or being disturbed by, my neighbors with sound leakage. My previous headphones were the inner-ear style, and I found those to be extremely uncomfortable.

Second, I'll say that both the Sennheisers and the Shures are excellent, from a layman's perspective, and that you really can't go wrong with either. Again, a true audiophile would probably tell you something different, and be able to explain the technical side of why one is clearly superior, but I am not that guy.

So, why did I prefer the Sennheisers? The 2 main reasons are:

1. Better sound isolation. Not just a little bit, but a lot. With the Shure 440s, my wife was able to sing along with the song I was listening to at 50% volume from 12 feet away. Compare that to the Sennheiser HD 429's, and I had to get within arms length before she could even hear a noise, let alone be able to tell what the song was and sing along. Further, I had her turn up the volume of the television until I could hear it through the headphones. She got up to 30 with Sennheisers, compared to only 14 before sound started leaking through on the Shures.

2. Better comfort. This is obviously a personal preference, and will depend a lot on your head size and shape, but for me, the Shures felt like they were going to fall off every time I moved my head. The Sennheisers felt tighter, but not in an uncomfortable way. Just the opposite, actually. Then Sennheisers felt secure on my ears, and like it would be no problem to go jogging or working out in them, if I were so inclined.

2a. As far as long term comfort, I wore them each for 2 straight hours. This was a struggle with the Shures, because like I said, every time I moved my head, I felt the need to adjust them, and tighten them just a little bit. However, despite what is said about the Shure 440 earpads being bad and needing to replace them with the 840 earpads, I did not find the standard earpads to be uncomfortable at all. For the Sennheisers, they stayed comfortably secure the whole time, which I liked. The earpads are soft and very comfortable. When I took them off, I did notice how warm my ears must have been, because they felt cool when in the open air again. But I did not notice my ears being uncomfortably hot while actually wearing them, it was only when I took them off. I also found the padding on the top of the head to be more comfortable with the Sennheisers. The Shures started irritating the top of my head after about 45 minutes.

As for sound quality:

Again, not an audiophile. I tested both sets of headphones on a wide variety of music. I like my music to sound balanced, not to heavy on the low end or the high end. The Sennheizers seem to deliver more bass than the Shures. A bit too much on some settings, actually, but by using the "Acoustic" setting on the iphone equalizer, the Sennheisers sound very well balanced to this layman. For the Shures, I found the "Classical" setting to be the best. But you can play around and see what works for you.

Both sets were easily run by my iphone, without use of a headphone amplifier. But, with the better noise isolation, I was able to keep the volume lower with Sennheisers.

If there is one area where the Shures have a clear advantage, it is the wire. The Shures use a thick, coiled wire, like the one that connects from the base of a telephone to the handset. The Sennheisers have a just a long, thin, straight wire. It feels a little flimsier than the Shure wire, and might wrap around something without you even noticing. So, both wires give you the same range of motion, but the Shures do it neater, if that makes any sense.

TL;DR: The Sennheisers are the choice for me. They lost one star for the wire. I would rate the Shures at 3 stars, knocking off 1 for sound isolation and 1 for comfort. But like I said before, that comfort thing is highly subjective. Overall, the sound quality is equal. It is just a matter of finding the right setting for your preference.

Both are great choices for the price point, and I'm sure you'll be happy either way, but for me, the Sennheiser HD 429s hold a slight edge over the Shure SRH 440s.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

JVC GR-D372 High-Band Digital Video Camera 32x Optical Zoom/800x

Customer Ratings:

I bought this camera after quite a bit of research as I had limited funds, but still wanted a quality item. I've owned it for nearly a year & will say that it definitely is nice & compact, user-friendly, & shoots quality video. I did not buy it for the digital image ability as I was told that it really didn't take quality pictures.

My one & only complaint is that there is no way to download the video onto a PC. I was told by a Costco rep. that it had those capabilities, which was a huge selling point for me. At the time, I was 8 months pregnant & by the time I had a chance to attempt a download, my 90-day return ability was long gone. Had I been able to, I would have immediately returned it & paid a little more money for something I could eventually burn onto a CD or DVD.

So, if you're fine with VCR tapes or just keeping your video files on the mini-tapes, then by all means, purchase this product because it really is a good deal for the money.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Samsung NX200 20 Megapixel Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $899.00
Sale Price: $579.98
Today's Bonus: 35% Off

EVIL for electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens. Anyway, I pre-ordered this from B&H last September. Have had it for a couple of weeks.

First off, the Samsung NX 200 takes great photos. Low ISO shots are good, not quite as noise free as my Pentax K-5, but at least equal to Canon's current APS sensor images. I process photos from several theater photographers and get to see the files from many current cameras. The NX 200 has nothing to apologize for when it comes to low light performance.

The kit lens is sharp, though no faster than other kit lenses. With Samsung's 30 mm pancake lens it becomes a great street photography camera. The 30 is actually a great addition. It's super sharp, very fast, (F2) has no distortion or fringing in most conditions. The bonus is that the camera becomes very compact with this lens and will fit in a jacket pocket.

Second, the camera is well made. The magnesium body feels solid. Finish is excellent, and it looks classy. The camera is light but solid. There are enough external controls for an enthusiast like me. One extra is the i-Function lens, which allows for quick setting changes by turning a ring on the lens. It's sort of similar to the adjustment ring on the front of the Canon S95/100. That's on the body instead of the lens, but the lens ring makes changing settings surprisingly easy and fast. I'm becoming a fan.

The AMOLED screen is brilliant: bright, crisp and has good color. It will work in bright sunlight, though it does wash out.

Third, taking photos is quick. I don't know exactly how the burst rate compares to the competition. It's more than quick enough for my needs. The camera starts up quickly and shot-to-shot times are fast enough that I don't have to wait. It handles well. controls are in logical locations. Focusing isn't spectacular but well in the ballpark with the competition. I've shot the Olympus EP2 and EPL3, as well as the Sony NEX 5 and 5N for comparison.

Speaking of the competition. I don't think the ideal compact interchangeable lens exists yet. There are compromises with all current camera systems. The system is the important part.

Sony has released some excellent camera bodies with great sensors. The NEX 5N has the same sensor as my Pentax K-5. I don't think Sony gotten quite as much from the sensor as Pentax or Nikon (D7000), but it's close. The NEX7 is the most feature rich body and has an almost insane 24 MP sensor. Sony's shortcoming is that the company has focused much more on camera bodies than on lenses. Honestly, there isn't a single lens in Sony's lineup that would be near the top of my wish list. They make mostly slow aperture zooms, of decent but not outstanding quality. The only pancake lens in the lineup is a 16 mm, which is bit wide for everyday work. With a compact and light body, not having good and small lenses is a shame.

The micro four thirds (M43) cameras from Panasonic and Olympus have a much more mature lens offering. Since both maker's lenses will work on the other brand that helps. The Panasonic 20 mm lens is excellent and the Olympus 16 mm is pretty good. Since the M43 cameras have a small sensor the effective focal length is 2 as opposed to the APS sensor of the Sony and Samsung cameras. That means the a M43 20 = a 40 mm full frame equivalent. A 16 = a 34 mm. Those are great street focal lengths. The Sony 16 only equals a wide 24 mm equivalent. That's a big difference.

Both, Panasonic (GX 1) an Olympus (EP 3) have full featured offerings in about the same price range as the Samsung. They are both fine cameras. Unfortunately, the M43 cameras don't do as well at high ISO sensitivities as do the APS sensor cameras. I shoot indoors a lot and really appreciate the low light abilities of my K-5 and wanted something with near the same ability. The NX200 has that. the M43 cameras don't. If you don't do as much available light photography, the M43 cameras are great. That doesn't fit me.

Back to systems. Samsung has put out more lenses in less time than any other interchangeable lens maker. They have 3 good pancake primes that compliment the compact body beautifully. I got the 30 mm with the new camera and will pick up the 20 next. The lenses were the main factor in my choosing the NX200. Samsung's last sensor was a bit out of date. the old 14 MP sensor is similar to the one on my old Pentax K20D. It was good for its day, but not that great at low light, either. Now that Samsung has a modern sensor that is good at high ISO, the company's offerings look a lot more appealing. The NX200 is a good camera.

It's not perfect. I like the i-Function lens feature but would also appreciate a touch screen on the camera. It's not like Samsung doesn't make excellent ones for their phones. Also the screen doesn't swivel or tilt. My third beef is that the camera doesn't offer the ability to add a electronic viewfinder (EVF).

Holding a camera out in front like a compact isn't as stable as holding it close to the eye. As good as the screen on the back of the camera is, in bright sunlight, it would be nice to have the option of a EVF. Sony's new one is excellent. I'm assuming that it will be similar the the one on the A77, which I've tried. Olympus' one is quite good enough and reports say that Panasonic's is as good as the Oly. It's a shame the the NX200 lacks the option.

The third problem is that the NX raw files aren't compressed, which makes them around 40 MB each. That's nearly twice what they should be. When Adobe releases compatibility for the new camera I'll be able to import them into Lightroom as DNG files with reasonable file sizes, so that's more a temporary annoyance than a major problem. Until then, the JPEGs are fine.

Still, the camera works well and any lenses I get will work on the next generation model. With any interchangeable lens camera you're buying into a system. Samsung is getting their game up to par and has the best lens lineup for my needs, which mostly consist of street and travel photography. This is more than a good enough camera to overlook its few shortcomings. Bottom line. It handles well, looks great, has excellent lens options, and takes great photos.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Acer Aspire One AO756-2641 11.6-Inch Laptop (Ash Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $329.99
Sale Price: $299.98
Today's Bonus: 9% Off

I wouldn't call it the most sophisticated tech I ever bought, but after downloading Microsoft Office Home and Student (purchased separately), it's an affordable option that meets my needs. I think that's the key to any technology purchase--know your needs. Mine are emailing, writing, research, surfing, shopping, socializing, and other pretty low-level uses. If these are your needs as well, this is the machine for you.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Smoke Detector Hidden Spy Camera DVR with motion detection

Customer Ratings:

Arrived very fast. Other than the power connector on the back of the unit, it looks just like ordinary smoke detector, even up close. Installation was a breeze. The picture quality is excellent. I have been using it for over two months now, no complaints, very happy with my purchase.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Huawei Pinnacle Prepaid Phone (MetroPCS)

Customer Ratings:

Let me say I wasn't expecting much but this little phone surprised me. I read reviews about bad voice quality but haven't seemed to have that problem at all. Much nicer than the LG Contour (Craptour) in my opinion. I also had to laugh when I walked into a Metro PCS store to see that they were charging $69 for this $39 phone on Amazon.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

ZMODO 8 CH CCTV Surveillance DVR Outdoor Camera System 500GB

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $385.00
Sale Price: $188.99
Today's Bonus: 51% Off

I've never owned or hooked up a video system before but was willing to try. We wanted to protect the system from wire cutters or unplugging too so we went a step further in running steel conduit to the mounted cameras outside.

With regards to the system its self, it is pretty cool for the price tag. It has many features and capabilities. Once hooked up I would say I was not as impressed with the video as I expected to be but it serves it's purpose well enough and we can make out peoples faces from a distance. The night vision feature is the same. It works but I don't think it will go the 50 feet claimed. Maybe 30 feet and it's a fairly narrow beam that is well lite not the whole field of the camera lens. The mounts are workable but not without a little help. The screws were useless so we got different self-tapping ones of better grade and won't strip. On some mounts we used a piece of foil inside the universal joint to give it more bite and hold power. Really no problem at all. You will also have to buy a monitor if you don't have one but I went to Goodwill and picked one up used with cables for $15 more. We had more than enough cable to do out job and put the extra in the attic. One con is everything is designed to be plugged into an outlet. We wanted out system hiden out of the way so we put it in the closet and are going to have a special outlet installed in there for it but unless you want to do that for a more professional looking job you'll need to put the system next to an outlet and internet conection. For that we are using a wireless adapter and router instead of the hard cable. We also ran all the wires up throught the ceiling into the attic and out to the eves of the house were the conduit tool over outside to the camera.

So even tho we took it a step further we are happy with the quality of the video and the system overall. It also has many easy intefaces to access system settings and to save via USB memory stick or to PC via network. Playback and search also was easy to use. I found the system to be as easy to use as my laptop really. and there seems to be lots of different preset controls for the basic camera in my opinion. However, the system leaves me wanting to buy 4 more better PTZ cameras with 2-way audio which the system can handle.

The one thing I have not done yet is use the smart phone app for Android to monitor and change the settings yet. I wish I could comment now but maybe later. However, based on my experience so far I do not expect it to be a problem to setup or use even though the apps referenced don't appear to be their brand but third party.

Overall I think for the money I paid I got a great little system that does pretty much what it says and what I need. With a little inginuity we made the system look more like a professional installation and for about $40 more and a little extra work we fortified the systems integrity pretty good too. I figure a new outlet iin the closet will cost about $150 with an electrician and then the only thing anyone will see besides my cameras is when they open the closet to make a manual change or want to view the monitor. We do plan to buy and use some upgraded cameras with audio.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Panasonic VIERA TC-P50ST50 50-Inch 1080p 600Hz Full HD 3D Plasma

Customer Ratings:

If you are like me and are undecided on which series of Panasonic to get here is the skinny.

1st. If you are swayed by THX certification don't be, THX certification costs money for Panasonic so they only got it for their top two series televisions, the VT and GT. The certification doesn't mean much anyways, only that THX took that specific preset and set the levels to their own specifications. You can do the exact same with custom. The ST has the exact same picture panel as the GT and using custom settings you can achieve 99% of the picture quality as the GT, the only difference is the gray scale level settings in the pro menu, 2 point vs 10 point I believe, which to the naked eye will be negligible to most viewers anyways, even to most videophile snobs despite what they say. I personally never used the THX settings anyways on my past Panasonics preferring to use my own settings with custom.

2nd. Truly, the only real difference between GT and ST is the design of the TV and the dual core processor for graphic speeds while using the browser on the GT, which I use a laptop for anyways but if you want to use this as your monitor, which I don't recommend using plasma screens for monitors, then perhaps the processor speed is better for you. For aesthetics, it's clearly a personal preference but if you like the look of the GT over the ST and it's worth the money to you go for it but don't spend the extra cash thinking it's going towards better picture quality.

3rd. Buzzing. Don't let another person's over sensitive ear turn you away from these sets. This also depends on the individual though so go to a store and turn the sound off a set and listen up close. I can understand some people are plain sensitive to sounds, sights, smells and all other manners of disturbances but the buzzing on these tvs is way overhyped. When people hear the word buzz they tend to think of a fly in their ear or metalic rattling or vibration sound but on the plasmas its more of a low humming. I can really only hear it when I have the set muted during commercials. ALL plasmas do this and if you never heard it and are nervous once you hear it you will no doubt be in disbelief what others are complaining about, it's nothing. I don't know if some sets are more "buzzy" than others but my two sets absolutely, positively can not be heard with even low volume on and even when muted and humming during muted white background scenes it's very hard to hear from in front of the set and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. If it was more of a rattle, or vibrating metalic sound I think I would be annoyed but its just a low hum during screenshots with high white levels.

4th. Image retention/Burn in. I have read that the ST's suffer from burn in more easily than past models and I think this is false based on most of the complaints seem to come from people who open up the box hook up their ps3 set the tv to vivid or game mode and start going to town only to turn off the console and switch it over to the game. That is a surefire way to have your health meter or the score of your favorite team permanently scorched into your set. If this is your first foray into plasma and have been reading about burn ins and are nervous about it just follow the advice of every site that tells you to let your tv settle in for the first 100 hours or so. Yeah that means for about a week after you got your living room Ferrari you can't really put it into full throttle yet but it's worth the wait. I always turn all my settings way down below 50, especially brightness, for the first week or so and zoom in on any game or news channel with a ticker or bug(channel logo). Image retention shouldn't frighten you, it's normal and goes away quickly if you have broken your tv in properly. These sets get better over time. These newer model sets are head and shoulders more resistant to burn in then the first models of plasma anyways. You almost have to try to burn in an image after the set is broken in but with that being said, 100 hours is the recommended time but really take it easy for a good month of regular viewing before you start gaming hardcore on it and even then it's best to use the whitewash scroll bar every hour or so while gaming. Respect the tv and it will treat you well. Don't fall asleep in front of the tv while watching netflix or blu rays, these sets have off timers and if you think you are going to crash then set the tv to turn off in 60 minutes to be safe because it's just best not to ever let a static menu or any image sit on any plasma for hours on end but even if you do it's still highly unlikely you'll get permanent burn in but the image retention will probably last awhile before it goes away, usually the amount of time it was static on screen is the amount of time it takes to disappear with regular viewing. I generally let the scroll bar run every time for a cycle before I turn off the tv at night, it takes a minute and is like getting the oil changed in your car to keep it running efficiently.

5th. Glare. If you have it right in front of a window close the curtain. If you have a lightbulb dangling in front of the screen turn it off. It's a glass screen and there will be a little glare but unless you have a light source shining directly at the tv it will be fine. Regular lighting won't bother this set at all, i.e. floor and end table lamps, most overhead indirect lights won't be picked up on screen. If you have it underneath a chandelier I guess it might pick up some glare but otherwise don't worry about the glare this tv handles light like a champ and really this set will drop your jaw in low to dark light anyways but for those sunday football games don't worry you can watch the game without being worried about seeing the sad look on your face in the screen when your team fumbles it at the goal line. This set handles glare way better than what we're used to with plasmas. And in bright daytime light the screen is more than bright enough to not get washed out by indirect sunlight like some older models.

Lastly, Calibration. Right out of the box people that have never had an hdtv before will be impressed but others who have had hdtv's may not. The preset settings, imho, have always been junk and even on tube tvs I always tinkered with the settings to my liking. There are many sites that offer calibration settings and I recommend DNice's settings but don't be afraid to dive into the custom mode and set it up exactly the way it looks perfect to you. Also, every room has different lighting so settings that may look good on one set may not exactly look the same on the exact same set in another room. You won't ruin the tv tinkering around so make it perfect for you. Advanced videophiles accept under 3 color error calibration, basically tweaking the color settings to be as complimentary and natural as possible, is the acceptable picture quality setting and with this set you can get it calibrated to below 1 which is almost reference quality, meaning this would be the set experts would reference to compare all the other brand's sets picture quality too if it wasn't for the VT. It's that impressive and you can't just do that with any brand set by adjusting the settings, not many tv's can get subtle shades and hues just right no matter how many hours you spend futzing with the settings but this set is as close as it gets. Only the VT series can offer a better picture and it's because it offers many more settings to be controlled and adjusted and you will feel those extra contols in the wallet.

Overall, the ST provides all kinds of bang for the buck. It is a vast improvement even over last years flagship model VT series. What made last year's VT so enticing was it's black levels which have been improved on with this years ST, GT and VT. You are buying plasma for it's inky blacks and deep colors that pop on screen and the black widescreen bars practically disappears into the bezel and the colors are vibrant but natural and not over saturated like they were on my G25. It handles fast paced scenes really well but I turn off the motion smoother to get rid of the "soap opera effect" and action isn't stilted or juttered at all. The detail in darker scenes and the popping of the colors is what sets this tv apart from other brands. Watching nature documentaries in blu ray on this set is jaw dropping. Even Netflix HD looks killer on this. If what you are concerned about is picture quality and believe the extra money for the GT is going to give you a better picture then save your money and get the ST. Even cnet recommends the ST over the GT based solely on the price vs picture performance. If you are on a budget but want a top tier tv ST is it but if you truly have money to spare then skip both ST and GT and get the VT and have it professionally calibrated and you may end up with the best hdtv ever made yet just ask any Kuro owner who has seen this year's VT.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Foscam FI8904W Outdoor Wireless/Wired IP Camera with 15-20 Meter

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $95.99
Sale Price: $89.97
Today's Bonus: 6% Off

Quick Summary: Foscam is manufacturing and selling cameras with a known manufacturing defect. If the camera is pointed at a scene with too much detail (trees, grass, wood grain, window screen, etc) the camera will fail by either freezing, displaying black or rebooting. This defect was introduced as the result of a sensor change late in 2012. This manufacturing defect has been confirmed by Foscam as the DSP and a repair procedure has been made available. However, Foscam (the manufacturer) has released themselves of responsibility for repairing this defect. To be clear, Foscam acknowledges this manufacturing problem but refuses to be responsible for repairing the cameras. Currently, 370 faulty cameras have been reported in the Foscam forums. Exchanging the camera does not correct the problem as +91% of exchanges have the same defect (also detailed in the forums). The small percentage of successful exchanges are explained as old 2012 inventory. Users also confirm that Foscam continues to manufacture cameras with this defect. It seems that Foscam simply hopes users will not notice the defect or incorrectly identify the problem as cabling or networking gear. Do not buy this camera, or any other Foscam MJPEG camera unless you want to gamble with this known and confirmed freezing/black/rebooting problem. Based on the quality of support I recommend staying away from all Foscam cameras in general. They are inexpensive, but your time and sanity are worth a far greater value.

(Original Review The contents of this review and the three updates have been summarized above)

This review is to alert potential buyers to a substantial hardware problem with the Foscam 8904, 8905, 8906 and 8910 cameras. As the image complexity increases, there is a point where the video stream fails and remains in this failed state until the video encoder is manually reset by the user. The trigger point for failure is a function of the complexity of the image; inputs to this function include the scene being recorded, the intensity of the sunlight at any given time, and the software image adjustment settings (brightness and contrast). This problem is well documented on the Foscam user forums. For more information, do a web search for "8910 hanging rebooting based on image data" (other models are documented here as well). You will find a thread where the bug is reproduced by many users with a variety of Foscam models. The power supply, firmware, webUI, and network type have all been ruled out as sources of the problem. The working theory is that this bug affects all Foscam MJPEG cameras manufactured after a specific date. Users are trying to determine the specific date that introduced the hardware change that causes the bug.

For me, this problem first exhibited itself by the camera failing every afternoon. It took awhile to isolate the problem, but it was because the sunlight was brighter in the afternoon. The bright sunlight intensifies the luminosity changes in my scene and the image detail increases. The increased detail causes the video encoder to fail.

Buying one of these cameras is a gamble. If you are lucky, then the scene you are recording will naturally have a lower level of detail. This would include walls that are a solid color, shaded areas, and large sections of solid sky. If you are unlucky, then your scene will have too much detail (grass or light through tree leaves) and you will be at the mercy of your encoder failing every time the sun comes out from behind the clouds.

I've literally spent over a month in an ongoing email conversation with Foscam's support, tech support, and the R&D team and they are unable to reproduce the problem. Many other users have been receiving the same response from Foscam. Until Foscam acknowledges this problem and provides a solution, I do not recommend buying this camera. I'm surprised by the sheer volume of 5 star reviews, and suspect some potential manipulation by Foscam.

Update:

It has now been two months and I (and other users) continue to communicate with Foscam. The cause of this error was likely a sensor change that was introduced by Foscam in late 2012. It took several months before this hardware change trickled into the consumer market. The reason that Foscam has been unable to reproduce the problem is because they have been testing on older lab units; this problem only exists on units that have been manufactured since implementing the sensor change in late 2012. The forum thread mentioned above currently contains 82 cameras documented with this problem and 14 RMA's where the replacement cameras have also exhibited the same problem. One of Foscam's resellers has sent them a camera that exhibits the problem, but Foscam has remained silent on confirming any of the testing results from this specific camera. As it currently stands, the faulty cameras are likely still being produced and Foscam continues to fail in providing a solution for current/future owners. The bad news is that it took months for the hardware change to make it into the consumer pipeline. If Foscam ever decides to actually fix this issue by changing the sensor, then it will likely again take months before the new functional hardware makes it into consumer's hands. Even then, there will probably be pockets of old hardware still trickling out to consumers.

Update 2:

After 39 e-mails back and forth, I just recieved a confirmation from Foscam of this hardware problem. The e-mail is below.

"For the issue that MJ cameras reboot when light is too bright and the environment is very exquisite, our engineers find the reason and provide the solution. The reason for this issue is that if the environment is special (light is very bright and has many grass and trees), the picture size may beyond the DSP buffer. It can solved by flash the the DSP driver of the sensor board. Please contact your reseller to have repair.

Have a nice day!"

It is unclear if Foscam plans on continuing to manufacture the cameras with the DSP bug or if they will begin reflashing the DSP as a part of manufacturing. Based on their track record, if they do plan on making a change I doubt it will be any time soon. To correct the problem current cameras need to be shipped back and the DSP must be flashed. It is good that Foscam has confirmed the problem and can provide a fix for ambitious current camera owners. But, I think we are going to continue to have new users purchasing faulty hardware and identifying this problem for a significant amount of time.

Update 3:

This update will repeat some if the information already available in the quick summary up top. Foscam has now provided a repair solution. However, they have also claimed that Foscam (the manufacturer) is not responsible for the repair of this manufacturing defect. Foscam claims it is the individual resellers, in this case Amazon, who are responsible for repairing the cameras. I wholeheartedly disagree with this, but that is Foscam's stance. Users in the forums have compiled the steps of this repair procedure together along with a list of required parts/cable as a DIY project. The DIY repair will likely void your warranty on a brand new camera, but it is good to know that this option exists. The end result of this issue is that the defect has been confirmed by Foscam and a repair solution has been provided. But, they claim no responsibility in actually performing the repair. Foscam has been the definition of difficult through the entire process and so I do not recommend buying any Foscam cameras. I recommend finding an alternative even if it costs a little more money, your time and sanity are worth it.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Canon EOS Rebel T5i W/ EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens

Customer Ratings:

The accessories are ok, but I bought this because it was the cheapest price I could find for the camera and lenses I wanted. The camera has all the features I could want and more, and great quality for the money. The seller was also very helpful. I accidentally ordered the wrong kit and they were really great about cancelling the order even though it had already shipped. They had UPS reroute the shipment back to them so I didn't have to deal with returning it. There was a couple day delay in shipping the correct kit because of an inventory problem, but they made up for it by sending it overnight so it still arrived on time. I highly recommend them.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

First off, let's just get this out there: paper spec-wise, few other laptops can compare to this laptop in my opinion. Laptops with 15" 1080p IPS screens are very few and far between, and then weighing just 4 pounds and being very thin is icing on the cake. The rest of the system is pretty average for this price range nowadays, but if you haven't experienced a screen like this you might just not realize how big of an asset it truly is.

Now, the caveats: the first sample I got had a rattly fan. It was very noticeable, and made me worry that it might break after a short amount of time. Wanting my laptop to last more than a few weeks, I returned it and got another which was quick and painless, but it definitely did not inspire confidence in Vizio's build quality. My second CT15-A1 is fine, but I'm strongly considering the 3 year aftermarket warranty that Amazon offers just in case it has problems down the line. Not only is this laptop priced very aggressively, but Vizio is brand new to the laptop space, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect some growing pains with early models. Subjectively, the laptop feels like it's actually built very well. The aluminum body is stiff, and there's very little screen flex. The screen hinge is stiff without being too stiff. There are no obvious build quality defects like bumps under the keyboard or that kind of thing (which I had with my previous Dell XPS M1330).

With that out of the way, I do have to say that I truly love this laptop. It's crazy lightweight for the specs. The matte 1080p IPS screen is beautiful, and when calibrated with my X-Rite i1 Display 2 (using the Lacie Blue Eye software), the average dE is less than 0.2. Read: this display is capable of near perfect reference color reproduction. I can do Adobe Lightroom work on this laptop without color reproduction concerns any more, in fact I moved away from a separate monitor to save space on my desk and for a little extra cash.

The keyboard is very nice tactile-wise. Before I got this laptop, I was using a mechanical keyboard with Cherry Blue switches. So I definitely appreciate the benefits of a nice keyboard. And while the keys aren't the same as a mechanical keyboards', they're still nice. The travel is pretty limited but there's good feedback. It's not too loud but also isn't silent. Everything's laid out pretty nice, although I'm not a fan of the arrow key setup and I hate the complete lack of home/end/pgup/pgdown navigation keys. I think the default option of the F1-12 keys acting as special function keys without needing to hold fn is an excellent decision. I only ever used F5 for refreshing a page, which can be accomplished by ctrl-r, but on the other hand I need volume, playback, and brightness control very often. One thing I have noticed that could be a problem: sometimes it seems like key presses aren't noticed, and other times it seems like I unintentionally double press a key. I'm a very fast typer (about 90 words per minute on a 1 minute test), so it could be that I'm just being really inaccurate with a new keyboard, but if you're concerned about this I would check for a trend in other reviews.

The touchpad is okay at best, and if it's having a bad day it's absolutely terrible. This is my first multi-touch touchpad, so my experience here should be noted as very limited overall. I like the gestures, and scrolling usually works pretty well. I really like that the entire touchpad clicks in for a left click no more need to keep my left hand on the click button. I dislike that the default option for touch to click is "on". This was an amazingly stupid decision that wreaks of limited to no end-user testing. It makes typing almost impossible because there's no palm detection and merely brushing the pad moves your cursor. But thankfully this can be turned off, and as I mentioned previously the push-in-entire-pad-to-click design makes it unnecessary anyway. As another reviewer mentioned, sometimes the touchpad decides to just take a break and turn off. Other times, it decides to get all coked out and just randomly go around the screen, in no clear relation to what I'm actually trying to do. I'm not exaggerating. It's just completely broken in that respect. I have the most recent drivers and occasionally this happens with just no warning at all. It's infrequent enough that it's not critical, but it's pretty pathetic. Finally, it should be noted that there's no off button for the pad. I feel this is OK with touch to click being set off, since then the pad shouldn't randomly click unless you have a habit of bending your wrist to go between your hands and pressing down pretty stiffly, but it's still something some users might be concerned about.

So, basically, plan on using a trackball or a mouse with this laptop.

The ports are a little limited. Just two USB ports and only HDMI kind of sucks. Lots of projectors are still behind the curve and only have VGA, but the D-Sub connector is huge so I can't blame VIZIO for leaving it out.

The headphone audio is really nice. I would consider myself a practical audiophile I don't believe in $500 power cable snake oil, but I appreciate a good DAC and good pair of cans. In that regard, the audio from this VIZIO is pretty respectable. There's none of the hissing that you get with truly awful DAC/amp combos, but it's also nothing to write home about and the gain is pretty low. Shouldn't be a problem unless you're planning on driving expensive high impedance cans, in which case you're probably the type of person to have an external DAC/amp combo anyway.

Also, cool feature sidenote: like smartphones, the laptop detects when headphones are plugged in, and it remembers the difference between last speaker volume and last headphone volume. So otherwise, you can have the speaker volume set to muted but the headphone volume set to average so you won't disturb anyone but still not have to mess with the volume constantly.

Finally, the OS experience is very nice. Turning on from standby is instantaneous. Turning on from hibernate isn't blazing fast but still only about 20 or 30 seconds. Turning on from being completely off or restarting takes about probably only 15 or 20 seconds. Not having bloatware is a godsend. This is the first prebuilt I've ever bought where I didn't do a Windows fresh install first thing. I just uninstalled the Bing and Zune crap and I was good to go 30 seconds later. Also, as a sidenote, there aren't ridiculous brand stickers plastered all over the place. The CT15 has a great design that's very nice to look at, and they obviously cared more about the user experience than absurd brand identity/advertising when they were designing it.

Final geek note: I haven't tried yet, but I see any kind of hardware changes being difficult or impossible. The entire underside of the laptop is a single piece, so there's no easy-to-access hard drive, RAM, etc. doors. This is frustrating, especially since I'd like to drop in a 512GB SSD in a few months since the prices keep dropping and 128GB is a little small, but I would research into this more if you're considering the laptop and need this capability.

Anyway, to summarize, this is an amazing laptop for the price. The screen is superb, and doesn't even require a "for the price" qualifier. Everything else is pretty average, with nothing being terrible except the touchpad depending on how much you plan on using it and if you're OK with messing with the settings (very easy to do). The internals are nice, but you might not be able to change them (research this if it matters to you). It's indeed very thin and light, and again at a great price. I recommend it, but consider the quality control risks before buying., and if you're willing to also carry around a mouse or a trackball.

Really I would have given this laptop a -1 star for the touchpad, and -0.5 stars for the one I had to replace. But since you can't do out of 10 ratings, I think a 4 is more appropriate because the rest of the laptop is good and the screen is greaet.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

58mm Snap-On Universal Lens Cap

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $14.99
Sale Price: $2.89
Today's Bonus: 81% Off

UPDATE: I previously wrote that the picture in the description was wrong. It appears that has since been updated to show the correct lens cap. One should still keep in consideration that the clips/buttons will leave no clearance for your lens and may scratch/damage the glass. If you're using this over a filter, then you should be fine, but I would still not recommend this lens cap.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: The cap in the picture shows a "cavity" on the back side. This is similar to the original canon lens cap design, such that the clips are held together by a circular rubber-band that allows a gap between the cap and lens itself. The actual lens cap does not have such a design. The clips on the actual cap depress towards the center, leaving no cavity in the back side. If your lens is convex (mine is), the rear of the cap may touch and scratch your lens. BEWARE!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>

Swann SWDVK-830004-US TruBlue D1 3000 8-Channel DVR with 4 x

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.99
Sale Price: $549.99
Today's Bonus: 21% Off

For those of you interested in mainly watching the cameras from your smartphone or computer, this is the product and brand to go with.  I have been installing security systems for several years now and Swann continues to impress me.  I use other brands because clients sometimes buy their own, but none have an easy setup and support like this brand.  I read the review about the DDNS server being out and the reason from the tech representative explaining why and I like Swann even more for that.  What many non-techs don't understand is that a DDNS server is something you have to pay for, but Swann provides this for FREE.  Not only that it seems like they are beefing it up so that it doesn't fail in the future.  With other brand DVRs I used other DDNS services I had to pay for and those would fail more times than i could think of.  I had clients call me every time it went out, all except customers who owned a Swann DVR.  The setup is very easy for the DVRs and with this new D1 and 30 frames per second on every channel it's amazing that it's available for this price from the top brand.  In my reviews I like to also provide hints on how to make setup easier for those future owners. See below.

Hints 1: test all equipment before running cables and doing any drilling, you never know if the shipping man handled package badly.  Good thing about Swann is also their 1 year warranty and great customer service so no problem is something arrives damaged.

Hint 2: Install DVR near router and monitor/TV you plan to watch it on. Swann is great in that it doesn't force you to buy their monitor, you can use your HDMI compatible TV or a regular computer monitor.  To use the internet features, such as watching cameras on your phone,  you will need a hard wired connection to your modem, you can buy a long Ethernet cable if the DVR will be further than 4 ft from your router.   

Hint 3:  port forward ports 85 and 9000 to the DVRs IP address then reboot the DVR.  Go to Swanns website and under the support tab go to DDNS support to create your free DDNS account.  After creating your account you create a domain, this is your easy to remember online address for accessing your DVR on your phone or computer.  Input your account and domain information on the DVR and you are setup for Internet access.  See hint 4 for input on your phone.

Hint 4: on Swannview Pro app for name you put whatever name you want to give your DVR and for for "server" or "address" you put your Swann domain name plus the swanndvr.net that goes after it.  Put 9000 for port and user I'd and password are the user I'd and password for your DVR.  If you don't put password just leave it blank and the default user I'd is "admin".  Then you are done and you can see your cameras.  

Hope this review is helpful and hints help make it easier.  Great thing about this brand is also their technical support is awesome.  FYI They have support in French and spanish. Tienen apoyo tecnico en Español tambien.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Read More >>