NiteCore D4 Battery Charger Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product discounted so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a NiteCore D4 battery charger for a product review.  In addition to the battery charger itself, it came with two power cords ( house and car ) and a small plastic battery box.

The specs on this charger are pretty nice - it can charge many different sizes and types, including NiMh, Li-Ion and LiFePO4 batteries.  I also really liked the fact that each of the 4 slots is individually controlled, so you can charge the mix you need.  My old charger was just a AA/AAA charger and I had to charge in pairs of the same size/type so this NiteCore was a huge different.

Despite the capable feature set, this unit isn’t complicated at all.  Most batteries it can handle are automatically recognized, you only have to take additional steps for small capacity batteries and LiFePO4 batteries.

Types of batteries I tested:

- 18650 2200 mAh Li-Ion battery
- AA Eneloop 1900 mAh NiMh battery
- AA Energizer 2450 mAh NiMh battery
- AAA Duracell 850 mAh NiMh battery

Testing out the charger

I tried a mix of batteries and every single one charged without a problem, and without having to take additional steps to set a certain mode or select the type of battery.  Initially I found myself messing around with the unit to look at the voltage etc, but this really is a “set and forget” type of charger.  I was worried that the charger would be complicated, and not usable by others in the household that prefer to just drop the batteries in and let it charge like the old charger - I was glad to see that unit worked great without having to be setup each time.

Bottom line: This is an impressive charger that can handle normal household AA/AAA rechargeable batteries with no problem, but can also handle a wide range of batteries that are starting to become more common.

GW008 Mini Skull Quadcopter Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a GW008 Mini Skull Quadcopter from Banggood for a product review. In addition to the quadcopter itself, a transmitter, charger and spare set of propellers were included.

All you need is 4AAA batteries, everything else is included

The quadcopter comes with pretty much everything you need, other than 4 AAA batteries for the transmitter.  As always, I recommend reading the instructions before using any electronic device.

Charging and setting up the quadcopter is very simple.  Once you are ready to fly, the controls are fairly simple to use and are mode 2 setup which is the same as two other quadcopters I have tested.

Here are some of the design aspects I noticed:

- Cool design
- Pads on the landing feet to help make landings softer
- Propeller guards help avoid crashing if you bump into things

Front of quadcopter

Bottom of the quadcopter

Pads for landing feet, helps for rough landings

The quadcopter has a nice design and pretty sturdy from what I can tell - I hit walls, the floor, and the ceiling multiple times and haven't broken anything yet.

As for flight, it is fairly smooth and stable but practice does help.  I did notice when you move from a stable hover, you also want to give it a little throttle to keep the quadcopter from dropping a bit.  Once you learn how to do fly around pretty smoothly,  the controller has an button to adjust the movement speed and has an easy "flip" button to do stunts.

Some video of my testing (and crashing)

I mainly flew indoors, but I would suggest that first timers practice outdoors (with no wind) to have plenty of room to get comfortable with the quadcopter.  Also, try to practice over grass instead of the street - chances are, you will crash it a few times until you get the hang of it.

Bottom line: A cool looking and fun quadcopter that is also pretty sturdy.  Great for a first time quadcopter owner, or someone who just wants to add another quadcopter to the collection.

Related Links (they redirect to the correct pages)

Quadcopter Page: http://goo.gl/iCTmwG

Banggood Page: http://goo.gl/EhCydt
Banggood Facebook: https://goo.gl/1Fw2eC
Banggood Youtube: https://goo.gl/cpfI5R

Life-Phorm Device Mount Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a Life-Phorm device mount for a product review.  It is designed to support tablets, smartphones and cameras.   I have used a Breffo smartphone adjustable mount before, so I knew the value of these sorts of mounts - you can mount devices in creative positions/locations.

Nexus 7

Side view of Nexus 7

I didn’t test the Life-Phorm with a camera, but I did try the following devices with mixed results:

- Samsung Galaxy S5: It mounted fine even though it was in an Otterbox case.
- Nexus 7 2013: I had to remove it from the case, then it fit without any problems.
- Nabi DreamTab HD8: This wouldn’t really mount securely, but I think it was because the tablet itself is oddly shaped - the back has a section that is thicker.

Overall, I found this mount to be useful to hold my smartphone especially since I use it as a baby monitor sometimes and sometimes I just like having the phone setup next to me while I work on my laptop.  I also like the fact the legs have a hole in them, so you can tie a string or something to make the mount secure - I plan to try this with a tablet in the car.

Bottom line: Unique device mount with adjustable setup options.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B0099JJF9K

LinkIt ONE Development Board Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a LinkIt ONE development board for a product review. The package included the following items:

- LinkIt ONE development board
- 3 Antennas ( GPS, combined Bluetooth/Wi-Fi  and GSM )
- Lithium-Ion Battery
- Backplate for LinkIt One board
- Getting Started manual (printed copy)
- Board reference (useful reference showing pins and switches, printed copy)

Top: Battery, LinkIt ONE, GPS Antenna
Bottom: Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Antenna, GSM Antenna

The LinkIt One board is actually not much larger than a standard Arduino UNO compatible board, which was impressive considering the amount of technology you get.  You get the normal things you would expect from an Arduino compatible board ( Digital I/O, Analog I/O, etc ) but you also get features that would traditionally require a shield or add-on such as GSM (including GPRS), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and SD card.  You can read up more on LinkIt ONE and the development board at the following links:

http://labs.mediatek.com/site/global/developer_tools/mediatek_linkit/whatis_linkit/index.gsp
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/LinkIt-ONE-p-2017.html

Size Comparison: LinkIt ONE (Top) and UNO compatible board (Bottom)

Back of board without metal plate.  The SIM and microSD slots are on the bottom.

There isn’t much hardware setup needed initially.  There is a metal plate ( with a sticker that has info like the Wi-Fi MAC address and IMEI ) which you should attach to the bottom of the board which is fairly simple.  The battery is easy to connect, and so are the antennas but I would suggest not connecting the battery or antennas until you need them.

Once the board is ready, the next step was to get the software ready.

I tried following the steps on the “Get Started” paper guide, but they seemed to be for older versions of the Arduino IDE.  Instead of following the included paper guide, I would suggest using this link as a starting point:

http://labs.mediatek.com/site/global/developer_tools/mediatek_linkit/get-started/index.gsp

After following directions and getting everything setup, I was ready to start playing around with the board.  This board is not exactly an Arduino UNO compatible board, there are differences listed in the MediaTek LinkIt ONE Developer's Guide ( Section 3.5 as of version 1.3 of the guide available at  http://labs.mediatek.com/linkitguide ).  I would recommend reading the entire guide before doing anything else - if you are going to use code, libraries and shields designed for the UNO you may have issues due to the differences.

Just playing around with the board and trying out sample code, I have tested a few things I couldn’t have done with a normal UNO compatible board (without shields) such as:

- Connect to website via GSM/GPRS
- Receive SMS
- Use GPS location to determine distance to fixed point ( by implementing a project someone else created https://www.hackster.io/imrehg/dorothy-a-project-for-those-away-from-home )

So far, I am very impressed by this kit.  If you are planning to do projects that require connectivity, this is a great all-in-one board to consider.  I will continue to read up on the hardware capabilities, and continue to try out some simple projects to learn how to use the board.  I hope to post a project either on my blog or on Hackster.io (or both).

Bottom line: Impressive development board that is compatible with Arduino language, and has integrated features that should allow for some interesting mobile / connected projects.

SIM908 development board Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a SIM908 development board from DIYmall for a product review. In addition to the board itself, two antennas ( GSM and GPS ) were included.  I believe you would need to use a SIM card tied to T-Mobile network or AT&T network if you plan to use this unit in the US.

SIM908 Board

I used an Arduino UNO to connect with the SIM908 dev board, it took me a while to figure out how to use it - apparently you must have a SIM card in the unit, otherwise it won’t fully start up and won’t respond to AT commands.

Once I figured out how to get things connected, I focused on two projects (links are at the end of this entry):

1) Being able to send “AT” commands to the unit so I could play around with different commands.
2) Being able to get GPS information in a NMEA standard format, so that software on my computer could use the data.

Overall, this is a neat little board.  I didn’t get a chance to write any other programs, but the basic capability of issuing AT commands and getting GPS data both worked fine.  I was able to send and receive a sms (text) message which was pretty neat.  This sort of board is going to require that you have a solid grasp of Arduino (or whatever board you are using) and how to interact using AT commands -- not something I would recommend for a new user.

Bottom line: Neat little board to experiment with GSM/GPS capabilities.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00F3AF61K

Here are the Hackster.io projects for Arduino:

AT Commands:
https://www.hackster.io/bigboystoys13/diymall-gprs-gps-sim908-module-at-commands

GPS Data:
https://www.hackster.io/bigboystoys13/diymall-gprs-gps-sim908-module-nmea-data