MYO Lucky Strike Precise. Roll your own cigarettes review

First of all i would not recommend anyone smoking, but for those who seek an affordable and easy way to produce cigarettes, I wrote this review. I bought myself a Myo Precise from Lucky strike. I bought this machine because it looked like a clean way to produce cigarettes.

The box

The machine comes in a box together with 100 Lucky Strike tubes and 1 topcup with red flavored tobacco. There are also 2 attributes. 1 cleaner and 1 replacement for the cigarette holder.
There were 2 manuals provided, one in French and one in Dutch, and a quickstartguide. I payed 25 euro for this box, it seemed much but the ease of making good quality cigarettes is worth its money.

The looks a feel

The MYO precise looks a bit futuristic with its mate black color and its round plastic container. This handy feature makes it possible to see how much tobacco is left in the container.
There is a white round button which rotates, a white slide to dose the cut tobacco and a tubeholder.

The manual

After packing the machine out i read the manual. The manual is clear and has lots of drawings in them to support the text. It was easy to follow to produce my first cigarette. I had to look in the troubleshooting sector to produce my first cigarette.

Mounting the system.

The topcup slides in the holder and needs to make a clicking sound. The clicking is a peace of plastic from the cup that pushes up a lever so you can't get hurt by the knives on the drum. after the clicking sound, a foil needs to be removed by breaking of a little plastic peace on the front of the machine. Sliding out the foil needs to be done slowly. When the topcup is mounted, the machine is ready to produce the first cigarette. Turn the white button slowly to the right, just until the red marker. The rotate it back to the left. Pull the dosingslider back worth and for worth. Then put a tube in the tubeholder and pull it and push it back. Now the cigarette is ready.

Ease of use and taste

Once I produces my first cigarette, i didn't need the manual no more. The cigarette feels really hard but smoked like a regular package cigarette. The taste of the tobacco is mild and it does not tickle my trout like other tobacco's. The cigarettes smoke up rather quickly and the filter tends to get hot at the end. So there is always a little peace that goes to waste.

Positives

• No need to dose and manually stuff in tobacco. 
• Good dosing of tobacco. 
• Fresh cigarettes
• Cigarettes look and feel like boxed ones

Negatives

• The tubes are a little to short so i never slide the slider to the end. This way there is always some tobacco left in the tube holder which tends to get messy after a few cigarettes. But it's way less of a mess then with a traditional cigarette machine
• Topcups are 9 € and good for 80 cigarettes, compared to some brands I find this expensive
• The machine can only be used with Lucky strike topcups, this is a limitation to make people only by Lucky strike Tobacco. 
• When removing the topcup it can not be remounted, so if you don't have a spare one, you can not produce new cigarettes

Teva Terra Fi 2, solid but smelly!

During summertime I always wear sandals. My Karnelli wraptors broke down so I needed a new pair. I'm used to wear Teva sandals so I wanted the same mark, i visited numerous shops but could not find the Karnelli wraptors I was used to so I bought the Terra Fi 2 sandals.

Mark: Teva
Product: Terra Fi 2 sandals
Price: £ 40 @ amazon.co.uk
Website manufacturer: www.teva.com

The sandals
The sandals can be bought in several colors, Black, Drew brown, Drew navy, Relic olive, Thena olive,... They also come in lost of different sizes, as well for woman as for men. I bought the Thena olive which have a green and black color. The sandals have a black outsole with a green logo. The outsole is made out of spider rubber, spider rubber makes the outsole have a great grip on all kinds of surfaces. The spider rubber lasts longer then normal rubber outsoles. The midsoles have a green shock pad located underneath the heels, this absorbs shocks while walking. The Microban antibacterial system has been build into the topsole, this should make sure bacteria don't build up quickly in the sole. The top sole has small circles in them I have no idea what use these have. The outsole is slightly bend and the sandal has 3 Velcro nylon straps. These straps can be fully adjusted to the size of the foot so everything fits perfectly. They also have soft black pads in them so they never hurt while wearing.

My opinion
I've used these sandals for 2 years now, they fit my foots perfectly. I use them to walk every day on the street, on a vacation I use them to walk in the rivers or in the woods. The grip of the soles is really amazing! They don't weigh a lot, I can hardly feel I'm wearing them. The spiderrubber does what the manufacturer promises! The bottomsoles have only small marks of wear and tear and during summertime I wear them every day. The only real problem with these sandals is the Microban system, this really sucks! I never have smelly feet but when wearing these sandals for 3 days, they started to smell really badly. The small circles in the topsole build up a lot of dirt so maybe that's why they smell so horrible. To get rid of the smell I have to soak the sandals from time to time. Overall I am very happy with the build quality but because of the smell I will never buy any sandals with this kind of topsoles.

Advantages: Spider rubber bottomsole, Adjustable straps, Durable sandals
Disadvantages: Sandals smell terrible after a few days

Summary: Teva Terra FI 2, solid build quality but smelly feet

---This review has also been posted on dooyoo---

Primapore non-woven sterile adhesive wound dressing

As I have classic type of Ehlers Danlos - a group of disorders that affects connective tissue - my skin is hyper extensible and very fragile. It can rip open with minor trauma. When having an open wound, it needs to be stitched by a doctor. In the past doctors would cover my wounds with old-fashion adhesive plaster. That resulted in quite some skin damage and pain when removing them. One day I needed to have stitches - sigh... again - and the doctor came up with Primapore. I've never been happier about wound dressings.

The company & product characteristics
Primapore is manufactured by the British Smith&Nephew. They produce materials for the medical world. They have 3 main tasks: endoscopy, orthopedics and advanced wound management The Primapore adhesive wound-dressings are part of this last category. The wound dressings come in a cardboard box. There are different sizes available on the market.
Website: http://global.smith-nephew.com
Item number: #7135
Size: 8,3 X 6CM = 3 1/4 inch X 3 3/8 inch
Material: Non-woven adhesive wound dressing
Sterile: Yes: oxide sterilised

Usage and looks
Clean the wound thorough. The wound dresses come in a plastic coated package. This package has an arrow on them, package needs to be opened at that side. Make sure not too touch the wound dressing too much it is sterile. The outside of the wound dressing consist of a white non-woven breathable flexible low allergy acrylic adhesive. The central part is made of a absorbent non-adherent pad. Pick up the wound dressing and remove the protector papers, make sure you do not touch the pad. Put the pad on the wound and stick the adhesive part on the skin. The bandage breaths but it does absorb blood, so wounds can heal in a good environment. The wound dressing is not waterproof so don't go swimming with them. To remove the dressing, simply pull a corner of the skin, the wound dressing will come of easily.

My experience
I have used these wound dressings a lot. The package is easy to open, it opens in a way I do not have to touch the wound dressing. The wound dressing sticks well on my skin. The inside pad is soft and protects the wounds. When wearing the wound dressing, my skin does not sweat at all. The wound dressing is flexible and comfortable to wear. The wound dressing can loosen a bit on the edges when wearing long pants because of the friction between them. Every day I need to remove it. Removing goes fast and does not hurt a lot. When having a wound, the first day it does stick a bit in the central pad but not as much as the old fashion compresses. A bit of oxygenated water loosens it. The adhesive part can leave some traces, they come of easily with some baby oil, salad oil or alcohol. These wound dressings do not damage my fragile skin quickly. Only after wearing them for a week, my skin becomes red and a bit raw. They would probably not damage normal skin. I would recommend these wound dressings to everyone who want comfortable wound healing.

These wound dressings can be bought on Amazon, a 50-pack costs £ 12.99. They can be bought at the local pharmacy as well.

Advantages: Sterile, Comfortable
Disadvantages: Adhesive part leaves minor traces

Summary: Looking for comfortable elastic sterile wound dressings? These are the best!

---This review has also been posted on dooyoo---

Cool down on a hot summer day with the splash pod

Heatwave, every year we get a few. Those warm days are welcome but it's sometimes hard to find a way too cool down. As kids, we use to take a swim or play with water balloons. We used to toss the balloon around until it would fall and break. That was grate fun but making water balloons was lot's of work. After playing it required some effort to find those tiny pieces of plastic. A few months ago, it was my nephews birthday and he got a splash pod as a gift from a friend. They played with it and enjoyed themselves. 2 weeks ago I walked trough the toy shop and bought one of these.

The idea and use of the product
The ball consists off 2 soft rubber halves. The 2 halves match. Each half has an arrow on top. The 2 half's need to be filled in a bucket of water. Close the halves and make sure the arrows on top point to the same direction. Push on the top of the smallest half, it creates a vacuum. Now toss the ball around, when the vacuum brakes, someone get's wet. The ball can be filled up again.

Technical information and price
This ball can be bought in 6 different colors. It's measurements are: 4.5 x 2.2 x 7 inches. The manufacturer has it own site, it can be found on: www.basicconcepttoys.com.
I bought this toy in a toy shop as a bargain, it cost me € 6 which is about £ 5. The splash pod can be found on Amazon.com, or at Ebay. At Ebay search for splash pod, splash ball or splash it. It can probably be bought in a toy shop but I'm not a resident of the UK so I don't know for sure.

My opinion
When I got to the shop to buy this, there was only 1 piece left. I didn't like the color but it was hot outside so I could use some cooling down. It was not expensive considering the fact it van be endlessly reused. When I came home I read the instructions on the package. I filled up the toy but when squeezing a half, it would not create a vacuum. Every time the ball was thrown, it would fall apart. Not quite how it was supposed to be. I started surfing the Internet to find out if I did anything wrong. I found a commercial where I saw them squeezing one half into the other to create the vacuum.So I tried it like this. It still would not work. The next day my nephew was playing in his swimming pool so I gave him the ball. In the evening when emptying the pool, I wanted to show my sister how it did not work. Surprise surprise! The ball created a vacuum and ever since that afternoon it works how it's supposed too. Now we play throw and catch with it a lot. It is easy to fill the ball and fun to throw and see someone get wet. The ball does not hurt when it flies against my body ,that's because it's soft. If someone would throw hard, it would probably hurt. It does not leave any mess so no cleaning after playing. The toy's isn't to big so it can easily be taken on vacation, to friends or to a swimming pool. I even took it to a theme park. When I know it's going to be a hot day, I just put it in my backpack, it can't brake. I would recommend this toy, it is suitable for anyone who can throw and catch.

Toy website and commercial can be found on: http://www.basicconcepttoys.com/splash_pod.html

Advantages: Reusable, lots of fun
Disadvantages: Did not work immediately

Summary: A reusable fun water toy for hot days


---This review has also been posted on dooyoo---

Oko cat's best cat litter

This might not be the most thrilling subject to write or read a review about. But as I surf around the net in search of information about pets, I often bump into questions about cat litter. As I am the proud owner of a tortoiseshell cat that takes a shits and pees like any other living creature, I needed to find some good cat litter. I've tried a lot of marks but found Oko cat the best one.

Genral
Mark: Okö Cat's Best
Product: Clumping Wood Pellet Litter
Contents: 10, 20 or 40 liter
Price at Zooplus:£ 7,50; £ 14 or £26

The looks and feels of the bag
The litter is packed in a big thick papered bag, it feels like thin cardboard. On the front there's a picture of cats and some product information. The bag has a grip so it is easy to transfer. The biggest bag has 40 liters in it but it only weighs 18 kilo.

The litter and it's use
The cat-litter consists of 100% biodegradable vegetable material. After removing the dirt, it can be used to make compost. The dirt can be flushed trough the toilet but personally I would not recommend that. The cat litter has a light brown color and consists of small irregular pieces that are about 0,3 - 0,5 cm. When pouring down the litter in the cat's box it does not create dust. The smell of it is slight woody but neutral. When a cat pees on it, it absorbs everything and clumps well, The smell of urine does not come trough quickly.

My opinion
I've used this litter for 2 years now. The big bags are a bit heavy for me but they are manageable. Opening the bag is easy because the packaging has a rope to draw it open. My cat is very picky and uses 2 closed cat's boxes. One to pee and one to poop. When filling a cat's box I pour 5 centimeter of litter in it. My cat uses it daily and every evening I pick up the dirt to avoid smells. The pee makes it clump well so the clumps are easy to pick up. I have however forgotten to clean the dirt when I was sick and the cat litter only begins to smell after a week. At the end of every other week, I pour out some fresh litter on the old. The other week I clean the cat's box completely. Refuse bags are quite expensive so the cat litter ends up on my compost container.  A 40 liter bag lasts 2 - 3 months.
The only thing that bothers me is the fact it tracks a lot. To avoid cat litter trough every room of the house, I put down a fake carpet of grass. That manages to capture most of those little pieces. The price of the cat liter is somewhat high when being compared with other marks. But other marks smell quickly and are rarely biodegradable. My cat seems to like this litter so I'll keep using it as long as it does not get any more expensive.

Advantages: Clumps well, No smell, Biodegradable
Disadvantages: Expensive, Tracks a lot

Summary: If you're looking for a biodegradable,, well absorbing, neutral smelling cat litter, buy this!

---This review has also been posted on dooyoo--- 

Siku back hoe loader scale 1:50

General
Manufacturer: Siku
Type: 3531 Back hoe loader
Scale: 1:50
Price: £ 14 on Ebay an Amazon, it can be bought in several online shops and on truck fairs.
Year: 2005
Approximate dimensions: 17 x 6 x 5 cm

The company
Siku is a company that was founded in 1921 by Richard Sieper. At first they produced consumer materials such as ashtrays. 29 years later they introduced their first toys to the public. Nowadays, they produce scale models and accessories of various vehicles. Trough the years they gained a big public, they love these scaled models. Siku has it's own website where information about the models can be found. This site can be found on http://www.siku.de/ .

The package
The scale model comes in a cardboard package, the front of the package has some transparent plastic on it so the model can bee seen from the outside. The package contains valuable information about the product. It mentions company contact information, information about the product and a warning. The warning mentions this toy is not suitable for small children as it contains small parts. The package also mentions the model is PVC-free.

The model
This model is a 1:50 scale of a back hoe loader. The dimensions are approximately 17 x 6 x 5cm. The model itself is quite heavy, it weighs about 210 grams. The body is made of painted metal and some plastics. It has 3 main colors, black, dark grey and creamy white. The vehicle is some kind of tractor. On its the front it has a black shovel which can moved up and down. At the back of the vehicle there is a excavator. The excavator can not only move up and down, it also moves left and right. The back hoe loader can move forward and back worth with it's rubber wheels.
The detail of the back hoe loader is nice. On the outside there are numerous details. For instance, the top of the cabin contains 2 small orange warning lights, the windows have 2 wing mirrors,... The inside contains a drivers chair, a steering wheel and even some of the electronics. The whole interior is made of grey plastic.

My opinion
I bought this toy because my nephew had amazing results in school. He loves vehicles and was happy with his present. I took it out of the package, because it was packaged quite solid in its plastic. I notices the vehicle is quite heavy so I really hope he never throws this on the wooden floor, it would probably result in a damaged floor. When he played at first, he had some problems moving the different parts. There was quite some resistance in those joints. After a while the joints became more flexible. My nephews likes to put figures inside of vehicles. This one has no door so that was a bit disappointing. But then again, no doors mean they can not break down. He plays a lot with this toy and it does not break down, the small plastic alike parts however can brake off easily. With his imagination he builds complete towns with it. This car is one of his favorites although the bus stays number 1. As playing cars do not come dirty they don't need cleaning. If it would get dirty I recommend you use a wet cloth to clean it. I recommend this toy for kids who have reached the age of 6, it can also be bought for older kids. Older kids can put it on their cupboard as decoration.

Advantages: Heavy, Nice detail
Disadvantages: None so far

Summary: A durable toy for young kids, nice decoration for older kids.

---This review has also been posted on my own personal blog---

Jabra BT2040 Bleutooth headset, talk on the way.

General information
Mark: Jabra
Product: Bleutooth headset
Productnumber: BT2040
Price: £ 6 - £ 14
Website: www.jabra.com

The company
Jabra is a Danish company which has been founded in 1983. Their main task is making hand free devices for the worldwide market. Jabra develops wireless an wired product, these are uses in an office environment as well as in cellphones and cars. With their headsets and technology they won lots of prices. In the year 2000 they brought the first Bluetooth headset on the market. The Jabra BT2040 is one of the many successors.

Product detail
Battery: AAAA
Automatic sleep mode
Maximum talk time: 8 hours
Maximum stand-by time: 6 month
Weight: 16 grams
Bleutooth version 2.0
PIN-code: 0000
Range: 10 meter
Size: L5,3 cm x W1,9 cm x H1,5 cm
Led warning
EDR and eSCO support for a good sound quality

What's in the box
The headset arrives in a simple blister package. The contents is the following:
*The headset
*Ear hook
*1 AAAA battery
*Quick start manual
*Extended manual

The looks of the headset
The headset is built from black and mat grey plastic. The shape is somewhat rectangular but it has somewhat round looks. The front has a grey speaker which has a rubber coating around. Beneath the speaker the battery compartment can be found, this is ribbed so it can be opened easily. The ear hook can be attached behind the speaker. The back of the device looks mat grey. In the middle there runs a black line with a circle. In the black line a blue warning led has been built in. The round button is the control button of the headset.

Use of the headset
When using the Jabra for the first time, the battery's need to be put in the battery compartment. The ear hook needs to be attached for right ear users. Left ear users can use the headset without it. Put the Bluetooth of the other device on. Push the black button on the headset for about 3 seconds. The other device now finds the Jabra headset and ask for a code, this is 0000. The 2 devices have now been paired and can now be used together. When getting a call, all that need to be done is push the round button on the headset to have the conversation. To end conversation push it again. When making an outgoing conversation from your cellphone, the headset will automatic connect.

The blue led has different functions. If it lights up slowly, the phone is connected and waits in standby modus. When the led lights up double and slow, then there is no device connected to the headset. Quick flickering means there's an active conversation. Double quick flickering warns for an incoming or outgoing conversation. When the led flickers triple and quick, it means the battery needs to be changed. After a minute the Jabra headset automatic goes to sleep mode. No led will light up to save the battery. The device will however stay connected. The modus of the headset can become visual by pressing the round button once.

Extra information
The headset makes 2 short beeps when battery has 25 talking minutes left.
To have an optimal connection result, keep the cellphone at the same side of the body as the headset.
To call the last used number, press the round button quickly 2 times.
A conversation can be put in hold.
Volume control needs to be don on the cellphone, not the headphone.
Look out when walking in the rain, the device is not waterproof.

The manual
The quick start manual gives a clear explanation about the different steps needed to install the product. The manual has images to clarify text. The extended manual has 15 pages and is written in English. The manual is chronologically build and gives information about installation, use of the headset and troubleshooting.

My opinion

I was looking for a gift for the family to be able to call hands-free in the car. Because we have numerous cellphones a car kit was not that self-evident. I chose this one because I had heard and read some positive reviews about Jabra. The device looked modern and with it's £ 16 it was not expensive compared to other devices. Installation was a piece of cake. The manual was clear and I could find all information I needed. The only things I really had to look up were the code and the amount of seconds I needed to push the button to pair the device. The headset is easy to use and does not need a lot of foreknowledge. When wearing the Jabra, it does not weigh a lot so it's quite comfortable. The only minor point is the size of the speaker, it's too large for my ears and hurts after a while. The quality of the sound is good and the receiver never talks about noise. I only use this headset for short range. The further the headset is moved from the paired device, the worse the quality of the sound.I find the talking time way too short, 8 hours fly by quickly when being used daily. This is not the headset I needed for my family so eventually I bought a radio car kit. It is however a perfect headset for people who won't use it a lot. The standby time is fabulous! 

Advantages: Cheap, Good sound Quality
Disadvantages: Earphone is too big, Not water resistance

Summary: Looking for a good headphone for sporadic use, buy this!


---This review has also been posted on Dooyoo---