Category Archives: Product Reviews

I think therefore I buy. Verdict and justification of my purchase

Product Reviews

Fiskars Telescoping Tree Pruner

2 Comments

It is safety hazard if branches grows too close to the power line in your garden. You don’t want any branches touch the wires hanging between the pole and your house or it may catch a fire. You have to trim the branches using tree pruner every summer.

I like this new telescoping tree pruner from Fiskars. It is much better than old tree pruner I used to have. The old one was just a long wood stick with a pulling string attached to the blade. It is heavy and the string tends to tangle a lot. The new one from Fiskars is made with Aluminum and it is much light. The best feature is the pulling mechanism is build into the handle. It is very convenient and easy to use. No more tangling strings.

It come with an attachable saw for branches that is too thick for the pruner. I haven’t tried the saw, but I think it double as a self defense weapon in case zombie attacks.

Product Reviews

Compare Closet Systems

5 Comments

My house has became a closet systems showroom. I have installed 4 different brands of closet systems for my closets. Part of it is out of curiosity, try to figure out the different between those closet systems. Part of it is out of necessity, different closet space has different requirements and one size does not fit all.  Here is my review summary for all the closet systems.  I also include the PAX wardrobes IKEA in the comparison for reference.

IKEA PAX wardrobes

Price: $$$$
Install: ***
Look: ***
Review:  This is the first closet system that comes into my mind when I start looking for closets.  Too bad its depth does not fit my closet spaces.

Martha Stewart Living Closet System

Price: $$$
Install: **
Look: ***
Review:  I use this closet system for my master bedroom walk in closet.  It is easy to install but still require a stub finder and a power drill.  It looks nice with the laminate wood finish, but it only comes in one color

Canadian-Tire Extend-it closet kit

Price: $$
Install: *
Look: *
Review:  If you already have the horizontal hanging rod, no tool is required to install the  Extend-it closet system.  The height and width of rods are adjustable and they fit together with clip-on.  However, this closet system is very ugly and looks pretty flimsy.  I regret I had it for my wardrobe in the hallway downstairs.  I am considering replacing it with a different closet later.

Rubbermaid Configurations Closet System

Price: $$
Install: **
Look: **
Review:  Installation requires stud finder, power drill and some 10# screws.  The rail is vertical with slots for adjustable bracket.  Rubbermaid has shelving pieces for the closet system but it is a bit pricey. I used generic brand laminated shelving from home depot and cut it to the right width instead.

DIY from Home Depot parts

Price: $
Install: *
Look: **
Review:  I build this closet from Home Depot DIY parts.  I have to cut the shelving and dowel to the right width and fasten the bracket on to the stub.  Install the DIY closet system is quite some work but it has the lowest price tag.

Product Reviews

Building my own closet

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Finally I moved in to my new house, albeit the renovation is not totally finished. It just marks the beginning of many DIY home improvement projects. The first project is building the closets. The closets came with the house is those very ugly wire shelves, which typically you would see in a rental apartment. Both I and Pat hated those flimsy wire shelves and want to have better looking closets. Custom made closet are nice but very expensive, so it’s out of question. We check out closet solutions from IKEA, they look nice but they are quite expensive and the dimension does not fit our walk in closet. I almost got the extensible closet from Canadian Tire, but at the end I go for modular closet from Home Depot for the walk in closet and build from parts for other smaller closets.

I bought the Martha Stuart modular closet from Home Depot, although it carries Martha Stuart’s brand, I suspect it’s a Home Depot brand, since I don’t see it selling anywhere else. It is about twice as expensive as Closet Maid wire shelves but half the price of Ikea and it almost quite nice. The closet is easy to install, first mount the metal rail on the wall, then hang the vertical plywood panels and at last put on the shelves and rods. It only took me 12 hours to finish our walk in closet. I have spent most of the time figuring out where to drill holes on the dry wall using a stud finder and a level, went to Home Depot twice to pick up parts I forgot to buy, reinstall the panels a few times due to stupid mistakes and saw down the hanging rod to fit my smaller than standard closet. It also has many accessories, like drawers, wire basket, L shape shelves for the corners, shoe racks, sliding ties rack. I bought a couple of drawers and a tie racks to make the closet looks more elegant.

Here is how the Martha Stuart closet looks on the package:

Here is how the Martha Stuart closet looks after installed

The walk in closet is done and I have a more ambitious plan for other smaller closets. The other closets are essentially just a shelf with a hanging rod, I figure the cheapest solution is build it from parts. I got two metal bracket with hooks at the end for the rod at $3.99 each. Don’t buy the packaged shelves or rods from Closet Maid as they are over priced. Just buy a long piece of laminated plywood shelves for $10 and have Home Depot cut it into the right size for $1 per cut. A 4 feet 1″ dowel hardwood rob for $5 and cut it into the right size as well. The rest is pretty straight forward, find the stud and screw into the bracket. Then put the shelves and rod on the bracket and fix it with screws too. The trick is drill a pilot hole first so it is easier drive the screw into the wood. The only thing left to do is paint the rod to match color of the shelf.

Product Reviews

HP All-in-One Officejet J4580

4 Comments

My Espon all-in-one printer is about time to retire. The printer is running out of ink and the replacement cartridge is ridiculously expensive, probably cost more than what the printer is worth. The scanner is also dying, the scanner head making squeaking noise and is struggling to move across the page. It is time to buy a new printer.

I come across the HP All-in-One Officejet J4580 on sales in Staples. This $59 machine has color inkjet printer, fax machine and scanner with a 20 sheets document feeder. I know the ink cartridge will cost me a fortune in the long run, but since I have another laser printer, I won’t print from this inkjet printer very often. What really attracts me is the document feeder. I hate constantly changing pages when scanning documents. I think the scanner and feeder alone already justify its price tag.

The installation is pretty straight forward, just like any other HP printer. Withing 15 minutes, my new printer is up and running. The print quality is acceptable, can’t really compare it with the color laser printer at work. The scanning software, HP document manager, comes with the printer is very easy to use. I can scan many pages of document and save them into a PDF file just like I expected. I can even run the built-in OCR program to make the PDF file search-able or output the page content into a text file. The scan speed is not very fast but it does get the job done.

With the new printer, I can finally get rid of my old fax machine. No one use fax nowadays, I am only keeping the old fax machine and wasting space just in case I need to send or receive a fax. This printer can save the received fax to my computer instead of printer the pages. It saves paper and ink if I don’t need a hard copy of the fax. I don’t have a phone line around my computer, so I could not test the fax function until I move into my new house.

My only complain is the paper tray design. The printer does not have a output tray, the printed pages just fall on top of the blank paper. The printed page falls off from the tray if I didn’t extend tray, but the paper tray in full extension is a bit too long for my desk. With its $59 price tag, I am very happy with what I got. If the ink cartridge last longer, the scanner scan faster, this printer would be perfect. I guess I can’t ask too much for a low-end printer.

Product Reviews

Stapleless Stapler

2 Comments

staplessstapler

Stapleless stapler is pretty neat, see the photo below on how it works. You can staple a few pages together without using any staple. Pages stapled together with the stapeless stapler is not as firm as using a normal staple. It won’t survive continuous flipping of the pages. It is good enough to hold up to 8-10 pages together for document to exchange hands. The beauty of the stapeless stapler is when you want to remove the staple. No more broken nail or looking around for the staple remover, you simply torn the papers knot apart. It works really good on document you need to shred. You can feed the whole pile to the shredder without worrying removing staples or it may break the shredder. I got mine from eBay for only $2.5 including shipping. Highly recommend this little innovative stationary for office or home use. It’s cheap and useful, it comes it different colors and pattern, it could be a perfect X’mas gift for friends.

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