Before You Buy 165 (Transcript)

Show Tease: Coming up! It’s a brand new Chrome book. Sanheizers got new ears. A 360 degree action cam, a hybrid tablet, and a parting shot for those folks with unreliable transportation. You’ve got to watch Before You Buy.

Netcasts you love, from people you trust, this is Twit! Bandwidth for Before You Buy is brought to you by CacheFly, at CacheFly.com.

This episode of Before You Buy is brought to you by Blue Apron, Blue Apron will send you all the ingredients to cook fresh, delicious meals with simple step by step instructions right to your door. See what’s on the menu this week, and get your first two meals free by going to Blueapron.com/twit. That’s blueapron.com/twit.

And by Harry’s. For guys who want a great shave experience for a fraction of what you’re paying now, go to Harrys.com. Get five dollars off your first purchase by entering the code BEFOREYOUBUY when you checkout.

Father Robert Ballecer: Welcome to Before You Buy, it’s TwiTs review show, where we take all the little gadgets and gizmos that arrive here at the brick house, and we give them out to our hosts and our staff to see if they can give us some of the most honest reviews they can come up with. Now we’ve got a special one for you. It’s not a full review, it’s a first look. That’s right, Leo Laporte, last week on air for This Week in Google ordered the newest Google Chrome book. The pixel. He wanted to see if maybe coming out of the box it would change hi world.

Leo Laporte: Hey Father Robert! I thought I’d pop in a little bit on this Before You Buy. I’m not going to do a review, but stunningly, you know, I ordered the Chrome book Pixel when it was announced right before this Week in Google on Wednesday and it’s here already on a Friday. So two day shipping from Google, and this is the new…the update. Chrome book pixel, which came out two years ago, was unmatched for excess. It was the most expensive Chrome book easily, at 1300 dollars. All aluminum frames. Its strange 3X2 aspect ratio, but a very high 2560 by 1700, I think it was 1700 resolution. So it’s a great device. It’s just rediculously overpriced. In fact, Google even admits that about 85% of all Pixels are used by Googlers who got them for free. Nevertheless, many love the Pixel, and I’m one of them. It’s amazing. We’re really excited to hear, Jeff Jarvis is a good example, that they’ve done a new one! The Pixel 2. So it came out and I ordered it immediately. One thing that’s different about the Pixel Two, Intel broad well chip set, so that should give it a lot better battery life. I didn’t get the ludicrously speedy version. The LS, I got just the 999 version. That’s the good news, they’ve dropped the price three hundred dollars while increasing the speed. Oh that big box was all about holding a lot of paper, because the actual Pixel box is in here. There we go. They could have just shipped this, you know. Well they were in a hurry. I ordered this from the new Google store which they had just opened right before this went for sale. An Ifive, 8 gigs of RAM standard, 256, or is it…I think…maybe its 64 gig SSD. The SSD on the Pixel, on a Chromebook is not really important, because you’re really not supposed to store much on it. Out of the cardboard and into the day .Oh nice box, it’s pretty. They’ve done some other things…I’ve already been reading the reviews about the Pixel that are kind of cool. You know the design is exactly the same, including this kind of colored bar, but now you can tap the colored bar twice and it’ll give you an idea of how much battery life is left in your Pixel, that’s nice. And they are claiming battery life of somewhere around 13, I think, hours. I’ll give you, when I give you the review next week, I’ll give you a real world battery time. I’ll have had it for enough time to know that. Are you ready? Unboxing the Chrome book Pixel! It’s exactly, I mean exactly like two years ago. The connecters are interesting because these new USB type C connectors are useable for both data, video, and power. And they’ve done something very interesting. Oh this is different. They’ve got rubber feet all the way across here. They’ve put USB Cs, unlike Apple, which just put one. So we still have USB ports, we still have a headphone port, even an SD card slot. But there are two USB type C connectors. That means you can choose which side your power is on, which side your video comes out of. That’s kind of cool. Here’s the let’s get started, power on, find network, log in, launch apps. That’s the beauty part. On the Chomebook it is really easy to get things started. You just log into your Google account and everything downloads. There it is, that’s a type C connector. You know, it looks a lot like a micro USB connector, it’s just symmetric. That’s really the only difference. It’s like the round part of the micro USB connector, minus the V. I don’t know if they’ve juiced it up or not. Let’s see. You know, I could try this. Hello Pixel! Use the keyboard, the keyboard. Oh, there it is, there is a little juice in here. Oh, one of the things I liked about the Pixel, they have pretty good speakers in here, but there’s, as you see, no porting anymore. I don’t know where the speaker port comes from. Same, very much similar keyboard. You know, this is really just a less expensive, faster Chromebook. An I5, more RAM, a little more storage. Let’s join our TwiT network. You can look at me while I type in my password.  You know, one of the reasons I might want to continue, normally that would be the end of the unboxing, but I want to sign in because I want to show you how fast the on boarding is for a Chromebook. Optional make Chrome OS better by setting statistics. Additional stuff here, system security setting. This has a TPM dice, let me hide that number there, which is used to implement many critical security features. Below is the randomly generated TPM password that has been assigned to you by your computer. Don’t know what that’s for, but okay. Chrome updates automatically so there is a system update. It’s funny, even though it’s only two days old already there’s an update. Let’s see, this might take too long to make it worthwhile for an unboxing. But there you have it, a USB C on both sides. Same, basically, same exact boxy design. The weird 3 by 2 screen. I’m a big fan of the Pixel that I have at home and I was excited to get the new one. We’ll have a full review for you next week, along with a fairly unusual new Chrome book. Can’t talk about it now, we’ll be the very first to show it on next week on Before You Buy. Back to you Robert!

Fr. Robert: As soon as Leo has a chance to really dive into it. That class of device has really been growing the last couple of years, and I’m glad that we have the next demonstration of what a Chrome book could be. Now speaking of what things could be. How are you eating these days? Now I know you like to eat, I like to eat. I mean, it’s enjoyable. It should be enjoyable, unfortunately many people in our situation, you know, techies don’t really have the time to eat healthy. We get the foods that we like and sometimes we get the foods that are convenient, but very rarely do we get good food. Savory food, food that is actually good for us. Well that’s why we’ve got Blue Apron as a sponsor of Before You Buy, because they give you fantastic food, ready to cook, so that you have the experience of both preparing your meal and consuming it in a way that’s just elegant. Now what is Blue Apron? Blue Apron makes cooking delicious and fun. By delivering fresh, ready to cook meals right to your door. For less than ten dollars per meal, Blue Apron sends you fresh ingredients, perfectly proportioned with step by step recipe instructions. In fact if you’re DI wire, this is like maker for your food. They include beautifully printed pictures so you know what it should look like when you’re done. And they make cooking healthy because their meals are packaged and prepared to be healthy. That means you have no trips to the grocery store and no waste for unused ingredients, only wholesome, hearty, good food. Now Blue Apron is perfect for date night, for cooking with friends, and they even offer family plans, with kid friendly ingredients so the whole family can eat well and have fun preparing the meals together. When was the last time you sat with your significant other, with your loved ones, with your friends, your family, your kids, whatever it might be, and just enjoyed a meal? Blue Apron wants to give you that back, and they want to give it to the TwiT audience. So each balanced meal is 5 to 700 calories per serving, so it’s yummy, that you’ll never know, but it means that it’s not too much Cooking takes half an hour, shipping is free, and the menus are always new. You’re never going to get tired of what they offer because they understand that variety is the spice of life. It’s the spice of your meal. They won’t send you the same meal twice, unless of course, you want it. They work around your schedule and dietary preference, and Blue Apron source for only the best seasonal ingredients for incredible meals like Catfish with Cumquat Chili, basil glaze with water cress, and Cracked reka. And Stir fried black rice with mizo roasted carrots and turnips. That’s right folks; Blue Apron is like Pandora for your food. It looks at what you eat, and what you like, and it suggests something to expand your pallet. Really does it get better than that? You’ll cook incredible meals and be blown away by the quality and freshness of the ingredients, and you’ll never look at food the same way. So here’s what we want you to do, we want you to expand your taste. We want you to try something that’s good, that tastes good, that’s healthy, and that’s an experience more than just consuming stuff! Blue Apron, it’s a better way to cook. Checkout this week’s menu and get your first two meals free by going to Blueapron.com/twit. That’s Blueapron.com/twit. That’s right, two free meals, just for going to blueapron.com/twit and we thank Blue Apron for their support of Before You Buy. Now that I’m hungry, and I want to go home and cook my next Blue Apron package, let’s go ahead and take a look at an action camera for those people who want to miss nothing.

Bryan Burnett: This is Bryan Burnett for Before You Buy, and today I’m taking a look at the VSN Mobil V.360. This is a 360 degree recording device, not unsimilar from, like, a GoPro or something like that. Made by VSN, who also makes Smartphones. And it comes in at a price of 449 dollars. Taking a close look at the hardware, it’s got a USB 3.0, micro SD card slot, an HDMI port out, it’s also waterproof for three feet, up to three feet for thirty minutes and it …considering VSN also makes Smartphones  it comes with a snap dragon 800 processor, used to stitch the 6480 by 1080 resolution video together seamlessly. It also records at 30 frames per second. It can use up to 128 micro SD card and it runs Android 4.4, not that you would ever know it, because there’s no real way that you’re going to interface with that. It does come equipped with Bluetooth and WIFI to connect to your phone to change settings, and things like that. It also comes equipped with a 2600 milliamp battery that will give you a little over 60 minutes of recording or full resolution and it has two pinhole mics for stereo recording. It does feel a little hefty coming in at half a pound. For those of you who don’t use pounds, it’s 226 grams. Inside the box, it comes with a carrying pouch, the battery, USB 3 cable, a silicon sleeve, which is kind of strange but is used to protect the bottom half of the 360, and it has an adhesive dash mount, and AAA batteries for the remote. Also a couple of quick start guides that are not really that helpful. The lens is actually argon filled so that helps prevent condensation inside the lens. There’s a little LED indicator on the outside that blinks green when it’s on and blinks red when its recording, which was really hard to tell if it was recording when out and about on my motorcycle using it. It also kind of looks like a coffee grinder at first look. On top is a bubble level, and it’s marketed as a rugged camera but it does feel pretty delicate with its aluminum body and giant plastic lens that goes around it. The lens does give you a 360 by 60 degree field of view, and it does do full panorama shots that come out pretty cool. On the camera itself there aren’t any buttons, which definitely became irksome when out trying to use this as an action cam, and having to fiddle with the remote to get it to turn on, or use your mobile device. As for software, it does come with an app for Android and IOS, and you use WIFI or Bluetooth to connect to the camera, this allows you to change the mode, there’s burst mode, time lapse, and surveillance, which will take a photo when something moves into the frame. The desktop software allows you to drag your files and drop in, and then you can…it’ll automatically stitch the file together. Otherwise, if you were to just view the file it does a kind of a stack on the front, and the bottom view. This was handy for, and kind of cool to view around in, but if you’re going to be editing these videos, but be aware they are stitched together in like this half and half pattern. And to fully test out this camera, I used my GoPro sticky mount and put it on my motorcycle, went for a ride out to hwy one and through trial and error, found out that the LED also indicates where the cutoff of the video is. So if you angle that at 90 degrees away from you, it will, the front and the back will be set at the…that’s where the splitting point is, not very intuitive but that’s how it works. Also, one thing to be mindful of when recording is that it will stop at 3.4 gigabytes, so you could be recording if you’re not keeping track of it, and not keeping a close eye on the LED, it could stop recording when you don’t want it to. Also, another thing to be mindful of is it’s pretty difficult to open and closed, and get access to the battery, which you also have to open up to get access to the USB 3 port, to transfer files, and it’s just not an easy process to get the bottom off. And as for mounting in different places, I’ve tried a few things but they show on some of their promo videos attaching it to the top of your helmet, but it’s just kind of unwieldy for that and a little heavy. A GoPro is already a lot to strap to my helmet, I didn’t really feel like trying this on the top of my head. The audio was okay, it doesn’t handle wind noise very well, but just sitting still and in quiet situations it sounded fine. In low light situations the camera quality is pretty poor, and any movement really, just destroys the video. As far as video in general it is not near as good as a GoPro. It’s closer to one of the first generation GoPros, as far as video quality. As for pros and cons for the ESN V360 camera. The first one is pretty obvious. The 360 video and photos are pretty cool and it’s nice to be able to have the… be able to look forward and back at the same time. Another nice thing is that it works with various mounts, and has a standard mount for tripod and things like that. And the third pro would be software. The apps work pretty well. The stitching together desktop app is fun for viewing videos and, apparently, if you have an oculus rift you can also use that to view your videos. As for cons, the top one is video quality. As novel as the 360 view is, the quality of the video is not nearly as good as some of the newer GoPros and other action cams that I’ve tested. And another con is no buttons on the device means that you have to have the remote on you, or your phone, and that can be kind of tiresome if you’re out surfing or trying to do some sort of action recording. Also the LED is really hard to see if it’s recording or not when you’re using it out in broad daylight. And the final con is price at 450 dollars, this is pretty much as expensive as some of the top tier action cams out there and it doesn’t deliver the same amount of video quality. So if it’s a buy, try or don’t buy? I’m going to have to give it a try. If you have a need for a 360 camera then this could fill that, but this definitely won’t be replacing my GoPro. This has been Brian Burnett from Before You Buy. Thanks for watching.

Fr. Robert: That’s a try for the VSN V 360 action camera. Now Bryan, Bryan is my TD of course, and I’ve got to ask you, you gave this a try…I was kind of leaning towards don’t buy. It just seems like it’s an interesting device but at that cost, something that I’d use maybe two times a year just doesn’t seem worth it.

Bryan: Yeah, maybe I’m being a little too lenient on it, but I do like having the…being able to record everything that’s in front of me and behind me, but the sacrificing of the video quality, yeah, I was teetering between don’t buy and try. But I can think of people out there who, they might have a special use case where they need to take, you know, 360 video camera and they don’t want to have to fiddle with changing the focus, you know moving the GoPro back and forth. So for those people this might be a good option. But I might look into some adaptors for like a GoPro. I think Carston was telling me there’s an adapter you can get for your GoPro that will do the same thing. So maybe I’ll try that in the future but I had to give it a try just for people who might be interested in this. But yeah…It’s a don’t buy for me personally. I would stick with my GoPro.

Fr. Robert: you’re leaving the door open. You’re basically saying if you have a really specific use for it, it’s a good camera; otherwise you wouldn’t get this over a GoPro.

Bryan: Yeah, pretty much.

Fr. Robert: Alright, that’s a try from Bryan Burnet. Bryan Burnett of course is here for the TD network. He’s our TD for a lot of shows, but he’s also a Co-host of a little show called Know How that we do here on the TwiT TV network. When is that?

Bryan: Thursdays at 11. If you happened to be watching yesterday we did two episodes. It was a crazy day, but yeah, we have a lot of fun doing that show, so watch Know How if you get a chance!

Fr. Robert: So there you go. If you’ve got a super special reason to get a 4K 360 degree camera then give it a try, if not, just have to pass on by. Let’s go from Cameras to high quality audio. We gave some Sennheizer momentums to Tonya Hall and we asked her to tell us if it’s the new sound of Sennheiser.

Tonya Hall: Hi! I’m Tonya Hall, host of Marketing Mavericks on the TWiT network, and I’m here to review the Sennheiser Momentum over the ear headphones. You get this really hard carrying case right here, with a double zipper. Your headphones will be right inside here. In fact, they only fit one way, which I’ll talk about in a minute because it’s actually kind of a downer. But they fit nice and snug in here, and there’s a pocket for ear cords. You also get a quarter inch adapter and two four foot cords that you use. The sound quality for the headphones is great. You get a very even tone all throughout. So with the highs, with the treble it’s very clean and you have a nice transition to the mids and the bass. The bass was actually quite good, it wasn’t too hard. I was able to listen to a variety of music, in fact, I’m a big fan of music and so as I listened to a quieter range I was able to transition very easily from one type to another. Great vocals in the mid range, I had some of my favorite artists are female vocalists and it was really, really clean. The sound on the Sennheiser is great. It’s an even tone all throughout. These, specifically, are ivory. They do come in black and brown, so if you’re not a big fan of the ivory it’s totally up to you. I thought they were really pretty actually. They have a brushed metal adjustable side here, and it’s slightly cushioned on top, so if you need that. And the ear pads themselves are leather and oblong and very, very cushiony. The over the ear is very small, so if you have really big ears these might not actually fit over your ear. My ears are not really big, so they fit very precise over mine, and they were very comfortable. I would say they’re probably even one of the most comfortable headsets that I’ve worn, and I really like that. As far as adjustability, you could slide this adapter right here up and down. You can also move it vertically and horizontally. So you really get a very precision fit with these headphones. That’s really nice! But back to the case, every time you put them back in the case, they only fit one way. What that means is that you’re going to have to readjust them every time. Not a big deal, and if you don’t use the case then you don’t have to worry about it but that is kind of one downside. These are also made for Apple devices. Now I was able to use them on Android and they worked fine. You don’t have all of the controls with your control unit for your up, your down on volume and pause. But I was able to use them, and I was able to use them on my PC as well. So they do work. They are priced at $299, and you can find them on a variety of different sites. I’m going to list the pros and the cons. So the pros are the adjustability, the comfort, and the actual sound itself was very, very good and totally worth the money. The cons are the actual, the fact that you have to adjust them every time you take them out of the carrying case, and that they are specifically made for Apple devices. I just don’t think those cons are that strong. In fact, these headphones are easily some of my favorite that I’ve reviewed. They’re incredibly comfortable and the sound is great. In fact, they’re so comfortable I actually fell asleep in them a couple of times. That’s pretty comfortable. I would say for buy, try, or don’t buy. These are definitely a buy. I highly recommend them. So that again, was the Sennheiser momentum headphone review, I’m Tonya Hall and until next time!

Fr. Robert: Thanks to Tonya Hall, host of Marketing Mavericks here on the TWiT TV network, and she gave the Sennheiser momentum a buy. If you’re looking for a really nice set of over the ear headphones maybe you’re going to need some Momentum. Now when we come back we’re going to go ahead and take a look at a hybrid tablet. There again, all the rage at CES 2015. We want multi function laptops and we’ve got a dozy from Acer. But before we do that lets go ahead and take a break, because we’ve got to talk about something important. Hey Bryan, you still back there?

Bryan: I’m still over here.

Fr. Robert: Because I’m not a big fan of shaving.

Bryan: No, neither am I.

Fr. Robert: Yeah, I can see that. It’s probably more of a problem for you, but it can be painful if you’re using dull blades. Something that’s a personal pet peeve of mine is when I go into a supermarket and I’m trying to get some blades and they’ve got them locked away like its fort Knox.

Bryan: I know! It makes me feel like I’m a criminal or something. I just want to shave! I’m not going to take these.

Fr. Robert: I’m not making out with these blades. It’s not Breaking Bad, these are not made out of Gold, but if you want a high quality shave sometimes you’ve just got to go through that hassle, unless ,of course, you subscribe to Harry’s. Harry’s is the place to go if you want a good shave. If you don’t care about shaving, sure go to the super market. If you want a painful shave, sure just go down to the corner store. But if you want a luxurious shave, that’s what Harry’s is all about. Now this company gives us high quality razors at about half the price of those big brand blades. Now they make their own razors, they don’t just repackage someone else’s products. They’ve got a factory in Germany that turn out these blades from high quality steel. Now they engineer them for sharpness and for high performance. And they ship them for free to your front door. Now more going out those late nights or on the weekend when you realize your blade is starting to scrape off half your face. No, you just got a new set when you need them. And because they make and ship their own blades, Harry’s is a more efficient company, which means they can give us factory direct pricing. Now Harry guarantees your satisfaction. In each kit you get a razor with a handle that looks and feels great. Free razor blades and foaming shave gel. In fact a while back I took a chance and I tried Harry’s. I went into my lab, my studio, and I foamed myself and enjoying what a luxurious shave looks like instead of those disposable razors. And what I found was it really does make a difference. It sounds like any blade should do but when you get premium ingredients and premium gel, and blades that are sharp and engineered to be sharp, and let’s be honest, when you get a razor that looks like they took more than five seconds to make it, it turns it from an ordeal into an experience. And that’s what Harry’s is all about. It gives me a clean close and comfortable shave. I love, and I look. I love the feel of this set. It’s just nice, it’s nice to have it, and it’s nice to use it. It just makes me feel like… well I’m taking care of myself. Now I also love the price, Harry’s cost half as much as the razors at the store from Gillette or from any of the other manufacturers and yet will help you get rid of that little unibrow. They also have an aftershave moisturizer that protects and hydrates my skin, which mean I’m not going to have to worry about drying up after I’m done with my shave. Now here’s what we want you to do, we want you to go to harrys.com and get five dollars off your first purchase with code BEFOREYOUBY. That’s harrys.com and enter the code BEFOREYOUBUY at checkout. We thank Harry’s for their support of Before You Buy. Get a close shave; get a shave that’s right! That’s Harry’s.

Bryan: So padre, I have to admit I had no idea aftershave moisturizer existed until I got my Harry’s kit. It’s so nice.

Fr. Robert: I’m the same way. I’m like what? There’s something you put on your face afterwards?

Bryan: You just shave and you’re done, right?

Fr. Robert: That’s a myth right? That’s something they do in mad men. It does make a difference!

Bryan: It smells really good too.

Fr. Robert: It smells really good. And here in the no hole we can use all the good smells.

Bryan: We need all the help we can get.

Fr. Robert: Speaking of getting all the help we can get. Hey Bryan, I actually took a look at a product from Acer last year called the Switch 10. It was a hybrid tablet. Well they sent me the new version and here I’m taking a look. Last year I gave an emphatic buy to the Acer Aspire switch ten. A hybrid tablet notebook featuring a 10 inch multi-touch screen, a quad core Intel Adam and a decent number of features in a one to two pound windows 8.1 package, for less than 400 dollars. This here Acer is upped their hybrid game with the Acer Switch 11. 2.5 to 3.4 pound 11.7 inch by 8.1 inch by 1 inch thick upgrade. Bigger, faster, and solider. Our review model was the Acer Aspire switch 10 SW5-171-39LB. And I’ve got to say off the bat, Acer please stop making me read off inmate numbers to identify your products. This is the only Core I3, flip switch 11, so I’m going to call it the Switch 11, I3. Under the hood you’ll find a 1920 by 1080 IPS with 10 point multi-touch screen. Driven by an Intel duel core I3 4012 YU CPU running at 25 gigahertz with 4 gigabytes memory and integrated graphics. For storage it sports a Seta 600 128 gigabyte SSD, as well as a micro SD card slot. The 11 I3 has both Bluetooth 4.0 and 8082 11 AVGN wireless for networking and has a wireless HDMI integrates right next to a USB 3.0 port. Button wise the left side of the device has a power button, volume rocker, and a windows hotkey. The keyboard is surprisingly good, much more firm than the one that came with the switch 10. And, of course, since the 11 I3 is larger, the keyboard is larger. If you worked on an ultra book keyboard this will feel just right. The touch pad is a little better than the one on the switch 10 but it still feels a little cheap, and I wanted a bit more responsiveness. Of course, that’s the specs of an okay notebook. But what makes the switch 11 clever is its hybrid design. The screen is attached to the keyboard with a center friction latches and magnets. Like the Microsoft surface remove the keyboard and the switch 11 is a standalone windows 8.1 tablet that’s a pound lighter.  Put it back and it’s a traditional notebook with an extra USB 2 port. Flip the screen around and it can tuck the keyboard behind itself. Lift the screen and it acts as a presentation display. Flip it over and now you’re in tent mode. As a Windows 8.1 tablet the 11 I3 gets good marks. The industrial design is firm and a bit utilitarian. With a duel core I3 CPU and a decent set of specs, it’s responsive enough to handle just about everything you might throw at high range ultra book. The IPS screen is beautiful with rich colors and deep blacks, though Acer still hasn’t fixed that touch rotation problem that plagued the Switch 10. As a laptop it bares much better than it’s predecessor. With a larger and higher quality screen, more responsive digitizer, USB 3 and much faster storage and processor. But what it loses is the Office home suite that was included with the Switch 10. In DC mark 8, the 11 I3 scored 1871, just about right for an I3 notebook.  The 2850 milliamp hour battery was drained from full in just under six hours with typical use. I was able to eke out 8 hours with all the power saving features turned on, but five and half to six and a half is the usual runtime. In the end, the switch 11 is a competent starter’s notebook with bonus features of a hybrid design. You can buy this switch 11 series now starting from $349 going up to $700. Our 11 I3, as reviewed was $575. Now on the pro side, I like this as a tablet, it’s actually a very competent windows tablet, especially at the price. It’s got a decent set of features; it’s got a decent set of punch. I also love the screen; they’ve done a really good job of giving you a good screen. It’s got a wide viewing angle. Unfortunately my camera was picking up some flicker but I think it was a setting I was having when filming this review. Otherwise, it’s deep, it’s rich, it’s nice. In fact, they’ve’ taken everything they learned from the switch 10 and pushed it into the switch 11. On the con side, the first thing has to be the speakers. The audio on this is horrible, you can’t hear anything. In fact you might as well not have speakers and just use the audio jack. I also am not a big fan of the auto rotation sensitivity. This thing always seems to either spin late, or spin early. I was asking for some way to lock down rotation, an easy way to lock down rotation after my switch 10 review, and unfortunately they still haven’t fixed that. And then there’s this. This base, not the greatest. The keyboard is much better. They’ve really improved the keyboard, it was really just a matter of spacing, and you’ve got decent throw. But this is not a good touch pad. Let me be honest, yes, I’m going to use this a lot as a tablet, but when I do use it as a traditional notebook, I want to know my fingers aren’t going to be hurting just to do a key press. Now if I had to do a try, buy, or don’t buy, I’m afraid I have to give this a don’t buy. Yeah, now this is a qualified don’t buy. I actually like the switch 11 on the low end. The $349 version is very, very good. It’s an Adam processor, just like the switch 10, same pricing, same idea, which is if you need something simple, you get that. I also like the higher version of this one, the I5 processor, instead of the I3, but that goes for 700 dollars. The problem that Acer is running into is that they make too many other notebooks. Like the R13 with this S7, that once you bring this up to $700, I would rather pay 100 or 200 dollars more to get one of those, rather than stick with this. So again, a qualified don’t buy, but yeah the Acer Switch 11, I3, am I calling it, is definitely a don’t buy. Now folks, we started up a new thing here at Before You Buy. We call it the parting shot. It’s when we take a look at a product that otherwise wouldn’t get a full review, and we give it to some of our staff, some of our hosts, and see if maybe they could put something together really quick to see how it’s used in the real world. Unfortunately, we’ve got this. This is the Juno Power. It’s a JunoJumper for people who need power. Now we’ve seen battery banks before that allow you to charge your phone or your tablet, but this one actually lets you jump your car. Unfortunately we didn’t really have a good way to jump a dead car, so I sent Bryan Burnett out to sabotage the minivan of our Before You Buy producer Carston Bondy.

Carston Bondy: I think in the 10 years I’ve owned this van, I’ve killed my battery maybe 25, 50 times. So I got this, which looks like it a slightly oversized charger for a phone. JunoPower, but apparently, you hook up the jumper cables to it, it’ll start my car. So I’m going to see if that actually works.  LED to tell you if you put it on the right way.  I used to carry around a big battery charger that my battery got really dead it wouldn’t even work because minivan batteries are a little bit bigger and harder to charge. But that little tiny thing charged it. Let’s see the JunoJumper from JunoPower.

Fr. Robert: So that’s a parting shot of the JunoJumper. I want to give special thanks to Bryan Burnett for sabotaging the minivan.

Bryan: You say sabotage, I say sabotaging.

Fr. Robert: Oh that’s right, for sabotaging the minivan. Carston gave this a buy, it’s 700 dollars, It’s got a 600 milliamp hour battery inside it. It can charge your phone and your tablets, but it has that really cool attachment that I can probably use it a couple compositors here to give it enough of a boost in order to give you a jump, so if you’ve got unreliable transportation. Let’s be honest, if you’re driving a hoopde, you’re probably going to want to pick up one of these. Now that’s it for this episode of Before You Buy. I want to thank all of our reviewers, of course, to Leo Laporte for letting us take a look at his brand new Chrome book Pixel, to Tonya Hall for taking a look at a pair of headphones, Bryan for taking a look at a 360 degree action camera, and yes, Carston bondy for letting us sabotage his van. Until next time, I’m Father Robert Ballecer, don’t forget that you can always watch Before You Buy, live every Friday at 2ish o clock Pacific Time. You can go to live.twit.tv, and as long as you’re watching live, go ahead and jump into our chat room at irc.twit.tv. Until next time! Hey if you’re a gadget freak, a gizmo lover, you’ve got to watch Before You Buy!