Everybody Staze...

Nobody leavz...

  • Home
  • About Me
    • LinkedIn
    • Lab
  • Contact
  • Links
  • Reviews
  • Sitemap
  • Weather
You are here: Home / Archives for 2012

Archives for 2012

Victorinox (Swiss Army) Garrison Elegance

2012/06/08 By staze

For our fifth anniversary, my wife and I bought each other ((In reality, she bought both from work (a jewelry store), and had them engraved, but, it’s the thought)) Victorinox (Swiss Army) Garrison Elegance watches, or as they’re generally known, the $125 REI Swiss Army watch. The Men’s watch features a 1.25″ face, and the women’s a 1″ face ((in all honesty, I first liked this watch when I was looking at the women’s size, since I don’t like bulky watches)). The movement is quartz, but it’s made in Switzerland. From what I’ve heard, REI and Victorinox worked together to design a watch with this build quality, and price point. Given the cost to my wife’s shop, REI can’t be making a very big profit on these watches (neither could Victorinox for that matter).

The back is screw on, which leads to a tighter water seal, but the crown (the nob that you use to adjust the date/time) is not screw down, so the claim of 100m (330ft) is probably not realistic. The band is a silicon rubber, and the biggest problem with it is sweat. In the sun, my arm tends to sweat a bit, and causes the watch to be a bit gross. I might try out the nylon band option at some point, see how that fares, but nylon is going to tend to snag more. The hands, and dots above each number glow in the dark, and overall, the glow is not obnoxious.

The real advantage to this watch is that as the name implies, it serves very well as a casual every day watch, as well as a dressier watch. No, it’s no Rolex, but at 1/20th the price of the lowest cost Rolex’s, it’s certainly more affordable ((Mind you, Rolex’s are all mechanical rather than quartz movements)). Another awesome “feature” is the affordability of parts. The crystal (quartz as well) is only $10 to replace. The band is about $10, and the whole movement is only $25 (obviously none of this includes labor). This watch should certainly last me 10+ years assuming I don’t lose it in a lake.

It’s been 10+ years since I’ve regularly worn a watch, and this one certainly doesn’t make me feel like I’m wearing a bulbous weight on my arm.

Both watches have performed very well, and I would gladly buy them again. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, analog, dress/everyday watch, this might be a good one to consider. I only wish that REI stocked them more reliably (they almost always have the women’s, but not the men’s).

[xrr rating=5/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Garrison Elegance, REI, Swiss Army, Victorinox

Scansnap S1300

2012/06/08 By staze

Few months back, I got a chance to borrow a ScanSnap S1500M from work, as well as an S1100 from a coworker. I did some basic scanning at home, and found that I really enjoyed being able to quickly scan receipts and other documents for easy archiving digitally. After a bit of pre-purchase buyers remorse, I bit the bullet and purchased a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 off Amazon, and since then, I haven’t looked back.

The difference between the S1300 and S1500 is rather dramatic when it comes to pages per minute (or maybe it should be inches per minute), as well as size. The S1500 SEEMS about 2-3x as fast when scanning ((According to Fujitsu’s site, the S1500 does 20PPM, where the S1300 is 8PPM)), and it seems to show that speed in physical size (it’s about 2-3x as big as the S1300). The S1500 also uses CCFL lights for illuminating the document being scanned, which means it uses much more power than the S1300 which uses a series of LEDs (the S1300 can, in fact, be powered over USB), in case I wanted to travel somewhere and help someone else digitize their documents, or if I ever manage to get back into genealogy, may be nice to travel and scan paper records.

While I haven’t got as nearly paperless as I’d like (nor have I had a chance to digitize everything in the file cabinet), I have been using it routinely as new documents make their way into my home that I feel like I should keep. The scanner software isn’t great, but it does allow easy scanning with the button on the scanner, and saves directly to my dropbox account “inbox” where I can go and rename the file and digitally file it away.

The process works extremely well, and the scanner scans pretty darn fast when you consider having to manually scan a document one side at a time (oh yeah, hopefully it was obvious the Scansnap scans double-sided).

All and all, a great purchase. They can be had on Amazon for a decent price, and if you sign up for an Amazon Visa card at the same time (like I did), you get $50 off! =)

[xrr rating=4.75/5]

UPDATE: Fujitsu, today (6/22/2012), announced the S1300i which is largely the same device, only 50% faster (12PPM vs. 8PPM). All the other “bells and whistles” about scanning to Dropbox, or Google Docs/Drive, are things updated in software, which is free to any Scansnap owner.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Fujitsu, Paperless, Scansnap

Alite Monarch Chair

2012/06/06 By staze

Since I’ve been spending a lot of time playing console games, I’ve had an ongoing issue with a lack of good seating in the room my consoles live in (the guest room). There’s the guest bed, but it’s uncomfortable to sit in for long periods.

I’ve looked at gaming chairs, but they all suffer from complaints about them being built for kids/teens, or uncomfortable, etc. Then my wife mentioned a camping chair that a friend had purchased. The Monarch Chair by Alite. While a bit spendy, I did have an REI gift card, and the gaming chairs I was looking at were all at least $70. A quick drop by REI, and I came home with the chair. Basically, it’s like an L shaped hammock that uses sturdy tent pole type framing to hold it together. It’s really meant for camping/backpacking, but the comfort wonderful. And if you put it right infront of our guest bed, you can basically lean back into it. You also get the same basic rocking action that gaming chairs have.

While I haven’t done any marathon sessions in it, I can say it is MUCH better than sitting on the bed, and may even rival the comfort of my Aeron at work. I will post back after I give it a good 4+ hour session, but in initial testing, it’s very comfortable. Plus, I can take it camping/backpacking. =) Alite may have a whole new market on their hands. =D

[xrr rating=4.75/5]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Alite Monarch, REI

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Weather

Categories / Archives

  • Apple
  • Coding
  • Electronics
  • Energy
  • Home Ownership
  • Miscellany
  • Politics
  • Prius
  • Sys Admin
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Work
  • April 2026
  • August 2025
  • April 2025
  • January 2024
  • February 2021
  • July 2020
  • January 2020
  • April 2019
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • June 2017
  • February 2017

Copyright © 2026 · Staze On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in