Electric Fireplace With Sound Effects - Snap Crackle Pop Isn't Just for Breakfast

What better way to complement the warmth and beauty of an electric fireplace than with the sound of live crackling flames? Especially when the flame displays of some recently introduced models approach the realism of actual flames.

The choices for an electric fireplace with sound effects aren't exactly abundant but they do exist. The first two models I found are from Classic Flame - as are the following product descriptions:

Classic Flame 18DM2105-M319 Martha's Vineyard Electric Fireplace with Slim Remote (The effect is complete with wood crackling and chimney sound effects.) $600

Classic Flame 28WM184-T408 Gossamer Electric Fireplace three crackle settings: (off/crackle/crackle with wind). $1120

Both of these units receive high praise from their owners but I discovered instances where these fireplaces, with identical model numbers, were being sold with and without the sound effect. Usually a model number is modified slightly to indicate the inclusion of a special feature such as sound, but that isn't the case here.

By way of explanation I can only assume the retailer has a choice of ordering a specific model fireplace with sound or without, or the manufacturer has discontinued the sound effect and you're purchasing an older model.

Either way, if the product description doesn't specifically mention the sound effect, it probably doesn't have it.

The third model I found is the Reflections Electric Fireplace model LSE-36R. This one comes with an "adjustable digital audio soundtrack of a real fire." For the princely sum of $3632 I would expect no less.

A fourth option is the FIRE/FX also from Classic Flame ($529). Not only does it have the sound of crackling flames - they're heard in unison with the flame display. The FIRE/FX also offers a very realistic flame display incorporating the latest LED lighting technology.

The FIRE/FX is a plug in fireplace, not a complete mantel package. It can be used as a portable stand alone fireplace, as an insert for a wood burning fireplace, or as the fire box for a custom made mantel piece.

Since it's difficult to find an electric fireplace with sound effects, much less one that also mirrors your taste and budget, you might want to consider an accessory such as the Fire Crackler Sound System; a 3" x 3" battery powered unit, or the Kracklebox Fireplace Sound System which runs on household power.

Martin Yale Martin Yale 1624 Handheld Battery Operated Electric Letter Opener Product Review

Overview:

The Martin Yale 1624 is a small handheld electric letter opener designed to sit on your desk or inside your desk drawer. You can even carry it with you in your briefcase.
It is designed as a fast, easy and safe method for opening your sealed envelopes and letters.
The Martin Yale 1624 is a powerful yet inexpensive electric letter opener that is ideal for every desk within your organization.

Strengths / Features:

The Martin Yale 1624 is extremely small and lightweight. It weighs less than five ounces and measures only 5.5" x 2.375" x 1.75". It is the size of a small stapler and is designed to unobtrusively sit on a desk or in a desk drawer until it is needed.
The 1624 letter opener is powered by two AA batteries. This makes it ultra portable. You can easily take it with you in your briefcase, in your car or make it part of your mobile office. With the 1624, a letter opener never has to be more than an arms-length away.
The Martin Yale 1624 automatically detects that an envelope has been inserted and activates the cutting mechanism. However, the blades are fully enclosed helping to keep your fingers safe during the letter opening process.

Weaknesses / Limitations:

The Martin Yale 1624 is a small handheld letter opener and is designed for use in opening small volumes of envelopes and letters. It can only accept one letter or envelope at a time. This is great for opening a small stack of mail but would be extremely tedious for opening any volume of envelopes at all.
The Martin Yale 1624 uses blades to cut off the top section of each envelope. If the documents or items inside the envelopes are too close to the top they may be sliced during the opening process. For this reason, it is important to remember to jog your envelopes by tapping them on the table or a hard surface to make sure the items inside settle to the bottom. It is also important to clean up the chads that are produced by the machine when it opens items These small sections of paper can cause problems if they become jammed inside the machine.
The 1624 letter opener is designed for use with standard sized letters and envelopes. If you attempt to use it with thick or oversized items the envelopes may become jammed inside the opener during the cutting process.

Recommendation:

The Martin Yale 1624 letter opener is perfect for almost any worker that opens envelopes and letters on a regular basis.
It is small enough to fit in your desk drawer and is extremely easy to use.
However, this machine is not intended for volume applications. It only opens one letter at a time and is ideally designed for users who open less than one hundred letters per week. Users who need to process more letters than this should really consider a larger more heavy duty letter opening solution.

Razor E100 Electric Scooter - A Comprehensive Review

The Razor E100 Electric Scooter is manufactured by Razor. This is a company that specializes in electronic toys, inlcuding scooters, for young teens. The Razor product range includes things like the the Pocket Rocket, Dirt Rockey, Pocket Mod as well as the full range of electric scooters including the E100, E200 and E300.

Razor is an award winning company and is regarded as the leading electric scooter maker. One of the interesting things you may not know about Raqzor is that it has its own exhibition team made up of kids from 9 to 20 who perform at exhibitions, competitions and shows all over the the world. It's a great performance and a superb way for Razor to show off its product range.

Tunring now to the Razor E100 Electric Scooter the fist thing to look at is the way in which it works. The electric motor is actually chain driven and this mechanism allows it to run at a high torque.

The throttle is operated by a twist style grip sitting on the handlebar. This is of course similar to the way a real motorbike works,

The E100 can produce a top speed of around 10 mph. This is an important feature because whilst this will feel fast enough to be great fun for children, the electric scooter is not travelling so fast that it could be dangerous to either the kids themeselves or other people in the vicinity. Of course a helmet is still an essential item.

So are there any downsides to the Razor E100 Electric Scooter. There have in the past been complaints about battery life for the E100. However, as I understand it Razor have addressed this and the latest version will run for a good 40 minutes continuously before needing a recharge. This length of time should mean that a child can be out on the scooter for several hours as they will not be riding all the time. It also means of course that there is enough battery to whizz over to their friends' houses and back again.

The recharge takes about 8 hours for a full recharge so it can be done overnight. The E100 also has 2 batteries included as well as all the tools you might need.

So, can the Razor E100 Electric Scooter be recommended. In my view, yes as long as it is aimed at the right age group. I think kids older than about 15 might find it all a bit tame and maybe you would not want anyone younger than about 9 riding one of these. However, for those kids just beginning the move towards their teenage years there is no doubt that its great fun and the E100 will mark their first forray into powered transport.

SportDog SDF - 100 Electric Dog Fence Review

SportDog makes a lot of equipment for people training bird dogs. They have one dog fence in their lineup, the SportDog SDF-100. It is the longest range dog fence available, doing 100 acres and is strong. The downside is that the collar is not rechargeable, and the whole system is pretty bulky and not at all pretty.

Box Contents

Collar

The SDF-100 is one of the bulkiest dog fence collars. You shouldn't use this on a dog under 20lbs. It also has this bright orange plastic collar, great for visibility but a little garish for most peoples tastes. The collar takes a regular 9V battery, which is good because you don't have to buy an expensive proprietary battery, but isn't as good as a rechargeable battery. To get to the battery you have to undo these four screw which is a bit of a pain. But the upside is that it has great waterproofing. It has a nice set of seals to make this really waterproof. The collar correction level is set at the collar, so you can set a different level for each dog. You unscrew this cover with a coin and then you press this little button. There are a total of five correction levels. Levels 2-5 are progressive so they keep increasing in strength if your dog stays in the correction zone. The probes on the collar can be switched out for either these long probes or these standard size probes.

Where this collar stands out is that it is super tough. It can take a beating and has really good waterproofing. We had a customer a couple of years ago that left the collar outside and found it six months later when they hit it with a lawnmower. They switched out the battery and it worked perfectly.

Control Box

The standout feature of the system is the control box, which can power up to 100 acres, which is nearly 10,000 feet of boundary wire. So if you need something bigger than the 25 acre range on the IUC-4100 this is the one to get. Controls on the box are pretty standard. You can set the boundary width with this dial. The side switch, switches you between beep only, correction plus beep, and correction only modes. Note that there is no battery backup on this one. Like the collar, this unit is big bulky and ugly but it does the job.

Conclusion

One other nice thing about the SportDog is that it comes standard with 1,000 feet of boundary wire. Twice as much as the standard system. Overall a good tough system that is the one to get if you need to go over over 25 acres.

Electric Muscle Massagers vs Battery Powered Vibrators

Electric vibrating massagers and battery powered massagers are very often used to massage and stimulate aching and hardened muscles to get relief from the pain caused by them. However these vibrating massagers have become to be identified as sex toys over a period of time. The performance of the electric vibrating massager is better then the battery powered vibrating massager. Electric vibrating massager is considered more powerful than the battery powered vibrating massager for obvious reasons. The motor used in an electric vibrating massager is bigger then the motor used in a battery powered vibrating massager. The electric powered vibrating massager was initially produced to perform the larger body and muscle message and marketed as such, but people soon found other use of them and were labeled as sex toys. Nevertheless the manufacturers still market them as muscle massagers. The electric vibrating massager is very popular as a sex toy than a body and muscle massager. It uses an alternating current source as its power supply whereas the battery powered vibrating massager uses AA batteries which are much smaller and give out less power than an alternating current source.

The other advantage of the electric powered vibrating massager is that the head of the vibrator is connected directly to the electric motor which is not the case with battery powered vibrating massager. There is an indirect transfer of power in the battery vibrator resulting in a slight loss of power as compared to the electric vibrator. This results in stronger vibrations from an electric vibrator.

The sensations caused by an electric powered vibrating massager are much more powerful and intense than that of a battery powered vibrating massager. These powerful vibrations produce intense sensations which most of the people are unable to withstand especially women who use a padding to absorb part of the vibrations and reduce the intense sensations. If you are not comfortable with the vibrations they can be minimized as per your body acceptance level by getting attachments along with the vibrator made of soft material like silica, jelly or rubber.

The disadvantage with an electric powered vibrating massager is that it is not portable as the battery powered vibrating massager is. Once the electric powered vibrating massager is fixed in to a socket moving it to another location is difficult as the socket in another location may not be at the desired location or it may not be there at all.

Though there are a number of manufacturers of electric vibrating massagers but Hitachi, Wahi and Acuvibe electric vibrating massagers are the most popular ones in the market. The quality of the electric vibrating massager has to be of top quality as they have to act both as body and muscle massagers. Low quality vibrators also available in the market but then you are at peril of owning them. It is but natural that high quality electric vibrators will be little more expensive than the low quality electric vibrators.

Ultra Motor A2B Metro Electric Bike Review

A new light weight electric bike is available with A2B motor which makes riding a bicycle a very pleasant experience and saves the environment. It is perfect for those who may not be in the best of shape physically or for those who simply want to save money by cycling instead of burning expensive gasoline. The A2B motor uses a 500-watt lithium-ion battery which is very environment-friendly. The battery recharges using pennies of power as opposed to dollars of gasoline. It is perfect for use in running errands or even the commute to work. The cyclist will arrive at work refreshed and clean due to the extra pedaling power the motor provides. It also avoids the stress encountered when stranded in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The maximum speed allowed by law for electric bicycles is 20 miles per hour but the time saved by avoiding the traffic jams may make the trip faster. For those looking to replace their car with something more affordable, the electric bike equipped with an A2B motor may be the answer. Most of the time, the battery can be recharged in 3-5 hours using very little power. The bicycle is very durable and the complete electric bike with the A2B motor is very inexpensive at $2,700 when compared to a car or even a motorcycle. Bicycle sales rank far above car or motorcycle sales at 20 million per year whether it is to replace the car or to supplement the family car. The Ultra Motor A2B Metro comes with a 2-year warranty on the battery and the motor and a lifetime warranty on the frame of the e-bike as they are often called.

The A2B Metro has a very comfortable seat with springs to handle the bumps in the road and three-inch tread tires which make this bike very agile by lowering the center of gravity. It provides the options of pedaling alone, pedaling with the motor engaged or the motor alone. To make the battery last longer, the cyclist can engage the motor only when going uphill or when becoming exhausted. It is the perfect alternative to a car which burns too much expensive gasoline and pollutes the air with poisonous fumes. The motor and battery are concealed in the frame so it resembles a regular bicycle until the motor sends the rider way in front of other cyclists. The range for the Ultra Motor A2B Metro is about 20 miles depending on factors such as weight of the cyclist, terrain and climate.

Electric Golf Cart Reviews

When the game of golf was invented, there was perhaps a single desire to be whisked away to the next green as there was a lot of walking involved considering the sheer size of the playing course. Of course, you could rent electric golf carts when they did come into being. Golf has always used electric carts because of their extremely low noise emission. Unfortunately at that time, one could not imagine buying a golf cart, first because of their prohibitive cost, second, why would you want one which would only server the purpose on one course. Taking it to another course would involve carrying charges and the hassle of renting haulers.

As electrically driven technology evolved, batteries improved and prices of golf carts started to come down, another interesting idea had developed, golf communities. People who had an immense love for golf started building their houses around golf courses. This and the lowering costs of carts were the deciding factors for more and more people to start buying their own golf carts rather than renting them.

Most country clubs now allow members to have their own private golf carts and this automatically means that you can now customize your own cart to reflect your taste. Golf carts can now be outfitted with a wide variety of assortments such as lights just like a car, seatbelts, brake lights etc. These carts can be licensed to be driven on the roads. This fact now enables people to keep their carts at home.

When out shopping for a cart, remember you are going to end up spending roughly a quarter of what you would on a car. Just look at it like buying a car for your daily routine. Keep in mind the quality of construction, safety features, advertised battery life, etc. Never ever buy a cart that you have not driven in an actual golf environment. Nearly all golf cart manufacturers and dealers maintain demonstration models and mock courses to drive them on.

Just remember, it is exactly like buying a car. Depending on how much you want to spend. Nowadays, you can buy a cart that looks like a mini Rolls Royce and will have the build quality of one too accompanied by the same type of price tag.