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I recently bought a sample pack of blades to try out in my safety razor. The first set of blades to be sampled were the Dorco Platinum ST300s. Honestly, the only reason I’m glad I started here is that everything will fell good in comparison. The blades suffer from an uneven sharpness that leaves you feeling a pull even when it’s sharp. They’re too rough on first shave, and though they do smoothen out, they quickly become too dull. You do get one half-decent shave per blade, but unfortunately, it’s not the first one. I won’t be using these again.
Taking lots of digital photos, and backing up an extensive CD and DVD collection can quickly burn through the gigabytes, so when you’re looking for a simple way to add digital storage to your computer, it’s hard to beat the simplicity of a Western Digital Elements USB2 External Hard Drive. It’s the simplest form of plug-and-play, and at a little over 10c per gigabyte it’s very cheap. The trade off comes between speed and simplicity, but for the majority of applications USB2 speeds are enough. If you’re not currently backing-up, this is a very easy way to start.
Please don’t take this as a one star rating for abalone in general, as I’m not pretending to be any sort of expert – just sharing my disappointment. I’m sure when it’s good quality, fresh, and cooked by a master of the ingredient it’d be something special; but maybe this isn’t something to cook at home, unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing. I was expecting the gourmet flavour to permeate through the stir-fry, but what we ended up with was an odd rubbery flavour that felt like it needed something to overshadow it, rather than the other way around.
The selection of double-edge safety razors available in Australia isn’t huge, with the Premax being the best quality available at Shaver Shop. From what I’ve heard, it’s not great for beginners, and although I don’t have much to compare it to, I can certainly feel that it’s rather aggressive. It feels nice in the hands, though, and the weighting is great. The grip on the tip of the handle works well to force a light touch, that lets the heavy head of this three piece razor do all the work at the end. And the chrome finish looks very classy.
This is a much better take on how a mint should feel. I like my mints to spray an air compressor into my sinuses, and luckily, that’s the feeling that I get with the original flavour of Fisherman’s Friends. I will admit that they don’t look very good – the musty brown of tanned shoe leather. But I take that as a positive, that more time’s been spent on the flavour than ensuring that the mints are pretty and just the right colours. I also like the Fisherman’s Friend packaging. It’s just paper, so none of that annoying tic-tac style shaking.
Put your hand up if you always wanted Nutella as a kid, but were never allowed to have it. Well, I’ve got a deal for you. If you exercise for over an hour, you’re allowed to tear the top of a sachet of Nutella-flavoured goo and have as much as you want. It won’t even spoil your dinner. If you ignore the hyperbolic flavour name, this is quite a good product. It has all the functional benefits of other GU Energy Gels with a flavour that you can actually enjoy, rather than stomaching for the benefit of the workout.
As I mentioned yesterday, finding shoes to fit with custom orthotics can be a tricky task. Luckily, with advice from a podiatrist, I’ve found my way to the New Balance cushioning range. From this year’s selection, I’m using the 1063, and had no trouble placing the orthotics in under the insole whilst keeping a great fit overall. It’s a very stable shoe and certainly feels a lot softer under foot than some others I’ve worn. My only slight issue with these is that already, with only 100Km under them, I’m already noticing a slight loss of padding under the heel.
There’s a reason that toothpaste is mint flavoured, and not vanilla flavoured. It’s because putting something that tastes and feels like stale, congealed custard in your mouth is not a pleasant experience. The effect is good though. It’s two mouthfuls for a 400KJ hit that is sustained over 45 minutes, and is supplemented by 20mg of caffeine. And as someone who likes a coffee before exercising, that caffeine is a nice little boost. I’ll be interested to see how I go using these for some longer runs, but I think my first step will definitely be to try another flavour.
I’d never used a heart rate monitor until recently, so I thought I’d use the first of a series of running-related reviews to discuss the Polar FS1 monitor. The cheapest of the Polar range, the FS1 has one key attribute; it’s simple. All you get is a stopwatch and heart rate (though, unfortunately, you can’t see both concurrently). It’s comfortable (even though the watch is a bit bigger than I’d like), and because it isn’t ‘coded’, it often gets interference from nearby devices or music players. But if you just want to know your hear rate – it does the job.
What I look for in a USB memory stick is small size, durability, and ease of attachment to a keyring. The Imation Nano series performs pretty well on all three points. Sure, I’d like it to be a bit smaller; and sure, the swivel cover becomes loose after a while (it doesn’t fall off, it just stops doing much “covering”); but I’ve had one on my keyring for about four years without trouble. One thing that’s especially good is that the cover attaches directly to a keyring, and is part of the device, so it can’t detach and get lost.
