The Total Gym 1700 was the most-reviewed home gym we found in this price range. With this machine you use your own body as resistance, lifting a percentage of your own weight against gravity.  Increasing the incline of the bench increases the resistance offered as the 1700 gym provides a total body workout.  There is also a weight bar that lets you optionally add up to 75 pounds of your own weights (sold separately).  Pilates Bar, Dip Bar, and Press Up Bar add to the range of workouts available.  The Total 1700 comes with an exercise mat to protect your floor, and can handle body weights up to 350 pounds.

One writer of a Total Gym 1700 review worked in a hospital, and noticed that this gym was used in their rehab units. She decided to buy one for herself, and was impressed with the smooth movement, the ease with which it folds up when done, and the fact that it folds up small enough to slide under a bed. “You can get a great workout on this piece of equipment,” she wrote.  Another reviewer was pleased that it arrived fully assembled (although you have to install the extras that come with it, like the Pilates Bar), and she looks forward to her workouts on the Total 1700 all day.  “Like a Six Flags ride that you have to work hard for,” she wrote as she praised the excellent video that comes with the home gym system, and the fact that you can do most any exercise you’d do at a commercial gym.  Yet another owner of this Total home gym said it is a “great motivator,” and enjoys the gym even though getting used to positioning her body correctly (since you are the resistance) took a little while to get used to.

The 1700 gym has a little brother, the Total Gym 1100, that is even less expensive and also highly regarded. As with the other Total home gym machines, the 1100 uses your body weight as resistance. One reviewer was pleased that this home gym was pretty simple, but still managed to target all of the major muscle groups. Another reviewer says it lives up to celebrity endorser Chuck Norris’ claim of a complete workout in 6 to 8 minutes, and said his entire family uses it, even his 6 year old son. Other reviewers wrote, “you don’t need a spotter as you do with free weights,” and praised the ability to “progressively increase the workout to stay challenged.” Reviewers were also pleased to get a strength and aerobic workout from the same equipment.

The Marcy Home Gym is a highly regarded choice for those who prefer more traditional home gym equipment with pulleys and weights. With this machine you can perform a wide variety of exercises, including lat pulldown, bench press, leg extension and kickback, and upright rowing.  It comes with 100 lbs. of weights for resistance, and there’s an optional 50 lb. weight stack extension.

One owner of the Marcy home gym praised the poster listing over 20 different exercises that came with the gym.  She said it is very well built, the most sturdy and stable of any home gym equipment she had used.  She appreciated the ease with which the seat adjusts, important because she and her husband both use it and are more than a foot apart in height.  Another Marcy home gym owner appreciated that there is “no unhooking one feature to use another,” and said he was really impressed with the quality, as the Marcy gym eliminated his drive back and forth to a commercial gym. Two reviewers complimented its efficient use of space, and reviewers also agreed it is a top-notch piece of equipment for the money.

Another well-liked home gym machine was the Total Trainer DLX. Offering 11 levels of resistance and a weight limit of 400 pounds, a reviewer who stands 6′4″ and weighs 285 found the Total Trainer gym capable of giving him a complete workout. The machine is “quite heavy and quality made,” and ships 95% assembled, according to reviewers.  The Total Trainer home gym comes with instructions, a video, and workout cards with prescribed routines.  A reviewer thought the accessories that come with the Total Trainer – leg attachment, deluxe oversized platform for leg exercises, straight bar, pull up and incline bar – were superior to much more expensive units such as the Bowflex. He wrote in to provide an update 5 years after purchasing the Total Trainer DLX, and commented that the chrome was as good as new, and the cords were still holding up.  Obviously this is a quality-made home gym machine.  The Total Trainer 4000XL, made by the same company, is another home gym that received great reviews and is worth considering.

While doing our research, we found that the Weider Max home gym was one of the most widely-searched names in home gyms. However, reviewers for this machine experienced problems – they reported that it took hours to assemble, and both reviewers had the machine break on its first use. They had to wait for the company to ship replacement parts.

If you have any health problems or risks, you should consult with your physician before beginning a workout routine using any of these machines.

For more home gym machines, check out Amazon’s complete line of home gym equipment in the $200-499 range. You’ll find that it is indeed possible to get a quality home gym, with a wide range of exercises that provide a total body workout, for under $500.

The top dog in the field is clearly the Toro snowthrower pictured at left, model 1800. You can find over 400 Toro 1800 reviews on Amazon as of the time this article was written, and it has averaged 4.5 stars out of 5 on those reviews, clearly a sign of an exceptional product.  Since the Toro snow thrower runs on electricity, there’s no gas to add or oil to change, and it’s considerably lighter than gas models.  It starts and stops at the touch of a button, and there’s a key lock feature to prevent children from accidentally starting it.

Reviewers loved this Toro electric snow thrower.  One writer of a Toro snow thrower review had a 50-foot driveway, wide enough for two cars.  With the Toro 1800, he was able to clear his driveway in 10 to 15 minutes. “I can’t wait for more snow,” he wrote.  Another reviewer used the Toro snow thrower to clear 9 inches of snow from a driveway, and said it cut through the snow “like a knife through butter.” He wrote that it did the job as well and as fast as his neighbor’s much larger and more expensive gas-powered thrower.

Another reviewer, writing from the Northern Indiana snow belt, praised the health benefits of the Toro snow thrower.  He figured it was “less expensive than a trip to the emergency room,” noting that a friend’s father had died from shoveling snow.  He was pleased with the lightness of the machine, allowing him to carry it up stairs to clear them of snow. After clearing his own driveway, he used the Toro 1800 to clear the driveway of an elderly couple across the street, and estimated that it moved about a ton of snow in less than an hour. He praised the thrower for the quietness of the motor, and for the fact the he could hang it up out of the way when done.

Some reviewers noted that the Toro electric snow thrower had trouble with wet, packed snow/ice, although breaking it up with a shovel made it possible for the Toro to clear it.  They also estimated that the Toro’s limit was about 2 feet of snow.  If either of those conditions apply to the snow you expect to clear, a gas-powered snow thrower may be a good investment.

Among gas snow throwers, the Poulan snow thrower pictured at left, model PR8527ES, received outstanding reviews. The Poulan model is described as being “built like a tank and balanced for heavy snow.” For heavy, deep snow, there’s a super-slow speed.  One Poulan snow thrower review writer was impressed with how easy the machine was to operate – he had it set up in 30 minutes, and it started on the first try.  “I was throwing out old snow from the city’s snow plows so far that I had to watch out for the neighbors windows and cars,” he wrote.  He said it’s so well-built and easy to operate that he’s actually looking forward to the next snowstorm.

Reviewers also liked the less-expensive Poulan PP555TE24, which comes with a 5.5 HP gas engine, smaller than the 8.5 HP engine found in its big brother the PR8527ES.  “Makes you wonder how you got things done with previous snow blowers,” one owner of this unit wrote.  “It clears tons of snow in half the time.”  He’s now able to clear up more free time before work to get other projects done. After he finishes throwing snow off his property, he’s able to go ahead and clear snow up the street, to prevent snowplows from piling chunks of moved snow at the end of his driveway.  Also praised the machine for its instant startups and the fact that it never stalls.  Like the other reviewers, he now looks forward to snow.

A couple of other snow throwers to consider:

• Toro 38516 CCR 2450 GTS 5HP Gas Single Stage Snowblower w/ Electric Start
• Toro 38361 Power Shovel 7.5 Amp Electric Snow Thrower

You can start looking forward to snow again too, with one of these top-rated snowthowers in your garage.  You’ll free up time that will no longer be spent shoveling, and your back will thank you.

For this article, we went through Amazon’s list of monitor privacy filters and found the ones that were the most liked.

Oh, wait, we left out one of the major reasons why people buy these things:  They don’t want their boss to walk by and catch them playing solitaire.  That’s okay, we fully support you in your efforts, if that’s the reason you found this page.  At the Saving Consumers Time office, we’ve been known to put writing these articles aside to play a game from time to time.

The 3M privacy filter, shown above on a 14.1″ screen notebook, seems to be the most popular filter by far, based on search volume. We found a review that explained why – an office worker was fed up with nosy co-workers, complaining that they’d constantly come by and bug him with questions about whatever happened to be on his screen. He ended the interruptions with the 3M notebook LCD privacy filter. “The viewing angle on this thing is perfect,” he wrote.  “You have to be almost dead on to see anything on the screen.”  If not immediately in front of the screen, “all you see is black.”  Other 14-inch laptop screen privacy filter options include the Fellowes privacy filter and the Eforcity notebook privacy filter.

For notebooks with 15 inch screens, the highly-praised privacy filters include the 15.2 inch 3M privacy filter, the 15.0 inch Fellowes privacy filter, and the 15.4 inch Fellowes privacy filter. One Fellowes filter owner described it as “excellent,” saying that it not only reduces glare, but it keeps people from seeing the confidential data she works with as they pass her open office door.

For 12 inch notebook screens, the winner is once again the 3M privacy filter. One reviewer described it as “perfect for using a laptop in a public place” and noted that “the person sitting next to you at Starbucks sees a black screen.” He also commented that he had been on a transatlantic flight next to someone working on a PowerPoint presentation with confidential financial data, and without a notebook privacy filter, he could see the entire thing. An alternative is the Eforcity 12.1 inch laptop privacy filter, which was also praised, although not by as many reviewers as the 3M display filter.

For 17 inch notebooks, the winner is the 3M privacy filter 17 inch widescreen privacy filter. Reviewers praised it for reducing glare and for doing confidential work in crowded areas. One owner of this filter had to return it because it didn’t fit his Hp Pavilion DV4000, so if you have that model this may not be the right privacy screen filter for you. The other reviewers said it fit perfectly.

Now that we’ve covered notebook privacy filters, let’s move on privacy filters for LCD and CRT computer monitors.  If you have a 22 inch widescreen monitor, the Targus privacy filter is a good pick. Multiple users who had tried other filters in the past said they preferred this one, and they commented that they feel safer working on their data on a plane with this filter.

For 19 inch monitors, the Fellowes privacy filter 19 got high marks. One reviewer, who prepares tax returns, found this filter very useful. She wrote that clients come in and pick up their tax returns, and with the Fellowes display filter in place, she does not have to worry about them seeing other people’s private tax information on her screen.  “Now I don’t have to shut down,” she wrote, and she also liked the anti-glare protection it provided.

For 16 to 18 inch monitors, this Kensington privacy filter is well liked. People who are not directly in front of the computer screen see only a blur, rather than your sensitive data.  Another popular choice is this 3M privacy filter, which protects 16 and 19 inch CRT monitors, and 17-18 inch LCD monitors. Once again, a reviewer who had tried other filters wrote to say that this one was the one she liked best.

If we didn’t cover your monitor’s or laptop’s screen size, you can browse Amazon’s list of monitor privacy filters to find the perfect model to reduce glare and keep nosy people from peering at your data. Privacy filters are an essential item to have if you need to keep confidential data safe.

Parents: In our opinion, a portable breathalyzer is one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give a college student or recent college graduate.  These devices can help them avoid a conviction that will haunt them the rest of their lives.

The BacTRACK digital breathalyzer (shown above in white, and also available in black) was highly regarded among owners of the product. It features circular light rings that provide an easy-to-see target and a lit LED display that makes the product easy to use at night. One owner of the product went out to celebrate an anniversary with friends, and took her BacTRACK breathalyzer with her.  “We were all around 0.09 which is above the legal limit,” she wrote.  “We decided it was best at that point to call a taxi.” She says she never leaves home without her BacTRACK now.  Another owner thought of it as a toy at first, but decided to give it a try after a night out drinking.  He too blew a 0.09 and opted for a cab home.  As he rode in the back seat, the cab passed a DWI checkpoint.  Thanks to the BacTRACK, he avoided a drunk driving conviction that night.  Another BacTRACK owner highly recommended it and said, “You become more responsible knowing you have it handy.”

The Alcohawk breathalyzer model Q3I ABI also received excellent reviews. With simple one-button operation, it generates quick test results that Alcohawk rates as accurate within 0.01% when a 0.10 reading is blown.  The Alcohawk digital alcohol detector has an electronic airflow sensor to make sure that a deep lung sample is drawn, in order to ensure accuracy.  One Alcohawk review writer said that she put the device on her wedding registry as a gag gift, but now that she owns one, “it is so much more.  Of all our wedding gifts this little sucker has been the highlight and used everyday.”  Another reviewer writes that “it lets us know when we’re too impaired to drive.  It works great and is easy to use.” She notes that there would be fewer fatalities and arrests if more people had the sense to purchase a portable alcohol tester.

Here’s an idea for digital alcohol detector owners:  Get a small sticker, write the number of your local cab company on it, and stick it somewhere on your alcohol testing device.

The BreathKey digital keychain breathalyzer is billed as “the world’s smallest and lightest breath alcohol tester,” weighing less than an ounce and fitting onto a key ring. It’s also said to be the only consumer breath tester using the same technology found in police equipment, known as fuel cell sensor technology.  One BreathKey review writer titled his review “sobering results.”  This pocket breathalyzer let him know that he was over the legal limit, even when he still felt sober. He drank two shots of vodka in a tall glass with soda and blew a 0.11 on the BreathKey breathalyzer.  Noting that “only time will eliminate alcohol from your system,” it took him 70 minutes to get below 0.08.  Now he knows he needs to be more careful when he goes out drinking. “I would advise getting this device and showing your friends the results,” he wrote.  Another BreathKey owner agreed, writing that “0.08 is way lower than I thought” after he experimented with the device.  Other owners complimented its size and accuracy. They also stressed the need to follow the instructions:  You need to let 20 minutes pass from the time you last ate or drank anything to get an accurate reading.

The AlcoMate breathalyzer appears to be popular, based on the number of times on which its name is searched. However, we couldn’t find sufficient reviews to determine whether this is indeed one of the best. The one review we found of the AlcoMate AL6000, also known as the AlcoMate Prestige, noted that it is small, easy to carry, and helps the reviewer judge when he is impaired. Furthermore, he found that regular use of a digital alcohol detector helped him judge his level of of impairment even when he didn’t have the device, and caused him to act more responsibly. We suspect that’s true of all of these pocket breathalyzer products. There’s also an AlcoMate Premium, or AlcoMate 7000, unit that is the next step up; we couldn’t find any reviews for it at all at the time of this writing, but you may want to look at it if you’re a fan of AlcoMate breathalyzers.

Beware of cheap breathalyzers. Our research indicates that you get what you pay for with these. Remember, these can help you avoid thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines, possible jail time, and possibly injury or the loss of your or someone else’s life. This is a product category where it’s worth it to pay for a quality product.  Also, once you’ve purchased a portable breathalyzer and it’s been shipped to you, be sure to follow the instructions carefully in order to get accurate readings.

None of these products should be taken as the absolute last word that you’re sober.  If you feel drunk, it’s advisable to use a taxi or designated driver even if your digital alcohol detector registers a reading below the legal limit.  However, these breath testers can help you be more responsible, and can save you lots of money in penalties, and they may just save a life.  If you drive even after one drink, an alcohol breathalyzer can be a worthwile investment.

eHealthInsurance can provide you with quotes for individual and family medical plans from over 175 leading health insurance companies. Companies that offer medical or dental insurance plans through their site include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, HealthNet, Humana, PacifiCare, and many, many more.  They also provide short term health insurance for those between jobs, those waiting for coverage at work to start, and for recent college grads. eHealthInsurance also provides insurance for students, and they can set up a Health Savings Account (HSA) to let you save money for medical expenses, tax-free. They can also get you a discount card to save on prescriptions. The card will also help you save on vision, dental, and chiropractic services.

All you have to do is fill out a very short form listing your zip code, date of birth, and whether you’re a tobacco user or full-time student, and within seconds eHealthInsurance will let you compare plans customized from you from many different providers.  Their insurance plan comparison service is entirely free.

DentalPlans.com can provide a discount dental plan to help you protect your teeth and save on dental services. You’ll be able to choose from over 100,000 dentists nationwide within 30 regional and national networks.  Once you arrive at the dentist’s office, all you have to do is present your membership card and you’ll receive 10% to 60% off most dental procedures. There are no claim forms or other paperwork hassles to deal with – simply show your card at the time of the visit.  There are no health restrictions, and most plans offer discounts on dental specialties.  Their search tool provides easy plan comparison charts, but if after reviewing them you need more information, they have customer service reps who can assist you.  Once you’ve found the best discount dental plan for you, you can enroll immediately, and most plans activate within 2 business days after enrollment, so you can start saving quickly.

You can search for plans in your area by dentist or by zip code.  Right now they are offering an additional three months free when you sign up for one of their plans starting at $79.95 per year.  As little as 22 cents per day for discount dental care, and three months free… not a bad deal.

Netquote.com is a one-stop comparison service for life insurance, health insurance, auto insurance, renters and home insurance, and business insurance. They’ve been around for almost 20 years, and have connected over 20 million people with the best insurance plans.  If you need life insurance to supplement the health insurance and dental insurance from the sites above, NetQuote will help you understand the difference between the different types of life insurance, and then will locate a plan that is perfect for you. It can also provide you with health and dental quotes of its own, and you can get quotes to insure your car, home, and business.  They claim to be the most visited insurance site on the Web, and their mission is to educate consumers about the types of insurance available to them, as well as get them in touch with agents who can get them the best plans.

Using the sites above, you can locate plans to replace most of the “insurance” part of a benefits package that you would find at a corporate job.  It is possible to get quality health and life insurance and dental plans without being tied to a company.

A mid-range laptop is appropriate for the typical computer user who wants to send e-mail, surf the Web, download audio, do word processing and spreadsheets, grab photos from a digital camera, etc. Most of the high-end computers costing $1,500 or more are overkill for these types of applications – you’ll get only slightly better performance for a much heftier price tag.

Who should skip this review and go for a higher-end laptop? Those who are heavily into gaming, multimedia, using the computer to produce audio and video; and in some cases programmers. For those fields, the added performance of the top-of-the-line machines will likely pay benefits.

The best laptops under $1000 change fast because new ones are constantly being released.  For this reason, we don’t often have customer reviews to examine, as we do with other products on Saving Consumers Time.  In that case, we will base recommendations on the reviews of the previous model which the new one replaces.

For value, we like the Toshiba Satellite L305-S5907 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium). The more RAM, or primary memory, in your laptop, the faster it runs. If you run too many programs at the same time, the computer will run out of RAM and will have to treat part of the hard disk as RAM (“virtual memory”). Hard disks are considerably slower than primary memory, so this will slow your computer down.  However, the L305-S5907 has a lot of RAM for a laptop in this price range – 4 gigabytes – and therefore should be able to keep all your programs running speedily.  We also like the fact that this model has an unusually large internal hard drive for its price range, 320 gigabytes. This means you will have plenty of room to store photos, videos, and music, which tend to be larger files that take up the lion’s share of hard drive space.  As with most laptop computers, it has 802.11 b/g/n, allowing you to connect to Wi-Fi networks without any additional hardware, and it can read and write DVDs.

So, why is this notebook so cheap? It uses the Intel Core Duo processor, an older technology than found in the current top-of-the-line models.  This means the processor is not as fast as a laptop with a newer processor; however, this should be somewhat offset by the ample RAM.  For typical computer uses as described above, the Core Duo’s power should be more than enough.  We expect it to be several years before typical computer applications (not including gaming and multimedia) require the higher-end Core Duo 2 processor. Click here to see Amazon’s current price on this model. We think that for the average user, the price-performance ratio can’t be beat with this one. Toshiba Satellite models have received very good reviews on Amazon, and we have personally owned Satellite laptops and recommend them.

Should you purchase an extended warranty with your laptop? We almost never recommend extended warranties, which are essentially bets between you and the warranty company whether the item will break, with the odds heavily in the warranty company’s favor.  For most consumer electronics, these are a waste of money.

However, for laptop computers an extended warranty may be a good idea. If the display goes out, it can be nearly as expensive to repair it as it is to buy an entirely new laptop.  Most laptops’ displays last for years, but we have seen ones which have suffered from display problems in the second or third year.

Our advice? If you’ll have enough spare cash on hand to replace the computer at any time after the first year, skip the warranty.  If you don’t think you’ll be able to replace it, buy the warranty as an insurance policy against a bad display.

If you want a loaded laptop computer with a massive 17-inch screen for well under $1000, take a look at the HP Pavilion DV7-1130US 17-Inch Laptop (2GHz AMD Turion X2 RM-70 Dual-Core Mobile Processor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium). This notebook comes with as much RAM as the Satellite above, nearly as much hard drive space, and it can connect to Wi-Fi and read and write DVDs.

So, why is this one so cheap? It uses an AMD Turion X2 processor.  However, this is not an older processor like the Dual Core in the Toshiba Satellite pictured above.  Intel has always had name recognition in the processor market, having been the gold standard for many years, and has been able to command a premium price as a result.  However, nowadays AMD processors are every bit as good as Intel processors, and in fact, many power users think the AMDs are better. So, you’re getting just as good a processor as the Intel Core Duo 2; you’re just not paying extra for the “Intel Inside” label.  AMD-powered computers are often great values compared to comparably-equiped Intels.

Note that the 17-inch screen may be too much for some users. It can be hard to find a carrying case that can accommodate the larger screen (a review of carrying cases that can fit a 17-inch screen is on our to-do list).  If you want to go with a smaller product that will fit in most laptop bags and notebook carrying cases, have a look at the HP Pavilion G60-120US 15.6-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz AMD Turion X2 RM-70 Dual-Core Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium).

You can even get a Macintosh laptop for under $1,000.  The Apple MacBook MB402LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive) White is a great entry-level Mac notebook.  Many people who have used both systems believe that Mac OS is a far superior system to a Windows-based PC.  Creative types especially seem to love Macs, and we recently talked to someone high up in corporate IT management who basically told us, “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back.”

This Mac laptop has some features not often seen in PC notebooks in this price range.  The MagSafe power adapter provides a magnetic power connection.  This means that if you trip over your MacBook’s power cord, it will simply disconnect without any damage, rather than sending your laptop flying off your table or desk.  There’s also a built-in iSight video camera for teleconferencing or video chat. The trackpad allows you to use two fingers to quickly scroll around documents.

Our only complaint about this MacBook is its 1 GB of RAM, and that’s easily corrected. As we mentioned earlier, you need to have a sufficient amount of RAM to run all your programs at the same time; if you run out, the computer will borrow space from the hard drive to treat as extra RAM, which will slow down your system.  1 GB is not really a lot for modern computer applications.  Therefore, we recommend you go ahead and order the Kingston 4 GB RAM upgrade, which costs less than $100. With 4 GB of RAM, you shouldn’t run out if you run the typical applications of an average user.

The hard drive, at 120 GB, is a bit skimpy as well compared to the larger ones in the PC laptops above.  However, unless you have a lot of large music and video files, we recommend not upgrading the hard drive when you order the computer. You may find that 120 gigabytes is enough; we’re typing this article on a laptop with 100 GB hard drive, and currently only have 57 GB in use.  Wait until you see that you’re going to run out of space, then pick up a USB external hard drive. You don’t want to wait until you’re completely out of space; when you’ve used 90-100 GB of the 120, it’s time to buy.  By waiting until you need the extra hard drive space, you give prices more time to fall and increase your purchasing power.

Browse Amazon’s complete line of $500-999 notebook computers to get more ideas. Unless you need a processing-intensive laptop for games, multimedia, or programming, you should be able to find a great laptop in this price range.

The Soft Heat blanket (pictured above) bills itself as “the world’s safest heated warming blanket.” Their Safe-n-Warm Technology, which converts 120 volt DC current into 14-18 volts, assures that you will be able to sleep safely, free from the burns or shocks that are a danger in older and cheaper electric blankets.  It’s the first and only blanket in the US to be certified as UL safe using less than 25 volts of electricity.

Reviewers loved the Soft Heat electric blanket!  One wrote that she had problems in the past with stiff, bulky blankets, full of hard spots due to wiring.  On the Soft Heat blanket, though, she said “the wires are so inobtrusive that we hardly notice them,” and she described the blanket as “luxuriously cuddly, very lightweight, [and] super warm.” Another reader said it’s easy to care for, noting that she washes it on gentle cycle, dries it on low, and it comes out fine every time.  She also said it didn’t shrink in the dryer and doesn’t pill up as some electric blankets do.  Several readers noted that it takes a little time to heat up, and it works best when you turn it on about a half hour before you get in bed.

The Sunbeam electric blanket was also highly regarded by people who own it. One reviewer noted that the blanket has dual controls so each side of the bed can be warmed to a different temperature, important because “I’m always hot and [my wife] is always cold.”  Other reviewers thought the blanket was a great value for the price.  One bought it for Mom and Dad and said they’re very happy with it; another liked it for use in the guest room.  This blanket is available in various colors and sizes – here they are:

• Sunbeam electric blanket, king, cranberry
• Sunbeam electric blanket, king, blueberry
• Sunbeam electric blanket, king, denim blue
• Sunbeam electric blanket, king, moss green
• Sunbeam electric blanket, queen, beige (pictured)
• Sunbeam electric blanket, queen, olive green
• Sunbeam electric blanket, queen, blue
• Sunbeam electric blanket, full, blue
• Sunbeam electric blanket, twin, seashell

If you prefer to have the heat underneath you, rather than on top of you, an electric mattress pad will do the trick. One owner of the Sunbeam heated mattress pad said the pad has been great for her knee problems. She also turns it on in the morning, before she gets up to go running, and reports that it helps her run more easily.  “When I’m sore I lie on the mattress pad, and it just relaxes my muscles,” she writes.  Another owner said it “does the job,” warming up the bed in less than 2 minutes.  She said it was sufficiently padded so that you don’t feel the wires.  Another reviewer reports that the Sunbeam electric mattress pad “warms the bed evenly,” with no hot spots.  Yet another review says it’s “great for cold feet!” The Sunbeam pad is available in the following sizes:

• Sunbeam heated mattress pad, king
• Sunbeam heated mattress pad, California king
• Sunbeam heated mattress pad, queen
• Sunbeam heated mattress pad, twin

We couldn’t find the Sunbeam electric mattress pad in size full, but there is a Biddeford heated mattress pad in that size.

A smaller throw blanket is perfect to keep you warm during daytime activites. The Sunbeam warming throw was highly rated.  One reviewer bought the throw for an extremely cold-natured elderly person, who uses it 12 to 15 hours a day.  Another owner of this blanket bought it for her daughter, who was always cold while reading or watching TV.  “She’s not a popsicle anymore,” the owner wrote.  Another reviewer called it the best money he’d ever spent, because the blanket allowed him to “reclaim a room that I don’t use in the winter due to the chill that is always present.” He compared the blanket favorably to electric blankets costing double to quadruple the price. Another reader commented that Sunbeam electric throw blankets can be hard to find in stores, but that’s okay, because we’ve got you covered with links to order them from Amazon:

• Sunbeam electric throw blanket, tan plaid
• Sunbeam electric throw blanket, green plaid
• Sunbeam electric throw blanket, brown plaid

Check out Amazon’s complete line of electric blankets and throws for more choices. These blankets, throws, and mattress pads will warm you up, whether you use them to save on heating costs or just to take the chill out of a room.

Investing in a comfortable desk chair can greatly increase your own, or your employees’ productivity.

This bungee chair was said to offer 99% of the comfort of the almost-$1000 Aeron, a Herman Miller chair, at a fraction of the price. Extra strong bungee cord loops (11 in the seat, 10 in the back) provide ergonomic comfort all day.  One reviewer commented that he can “sit in it for hours without any pinching, numbness, or other discomfort.”  He also added that the bungees are nowhere near as abrasive as the Aeron’s mesh.  “The bungees pretty much meld to your body,” wrote another reviewer who was initially resistant to bungees, but was won over.  Whether “you are slouching in front of your Xbox or sitting with good posture, you should be comfortable,” he wrote.  Here’s another bungee office chair to consider, if you prefer black rather than red.

This black mesh chair by Chicago Chair Company was called “chair nirvana” by one reviewer. He liked the fact that the comfortable mesh back breathed well and offered built-in lumbar support.  He said that despite being a heavy person, this chair was able to hold him well. He also praised its range of motion, praising the ease with which he was able to move around, move the chair up and down, and swivel.  He recommended it to “anyone looking for a chair that will be used for long stretches at a time.” This sounds like an ideal office desk chair.

Another option is this executive swivel chair. At 61% off retail on Amazon at the time of this writing, a reviewer called this chair a “great deal for the price.” It features passive lumbar support and a black vinyl finish.

A lot of people love posture kneeling chairs.  This particular ergonomic kneeling chair has a back as well as a seat and a knee rest. A reviewer loved the adjustable back, calling the chair a “godsend” for her back, and noted that the chair is perfect for meditational sitting.  She did note, however, that the chair is a slightly different color than pictured, more of a navy than the royal blue pictured here and on Amazon’s listing.

For those of you who would prefer a backless version, here’s a traditional wooden ergonomic kneeling posture chair. One reviewer said that this chair, recommended to her by a nun, allows her to sit in meditation for hours comfortably. She said that her posture is perfect and the chair allows for open breathing. She said the chair helped her to stop focusing on pain she was experiencing, and instead focus on the breath or whatever else she was working on.

If brown is your preferred chair color, this brown office chair (actually cappuccino/dark oak, according to the listing) is an excellent value for the money. One reviewer said it was beautiful, and “very solid for the price.” Both she and another reviewer said how easy the chair was to assemble. The second reviewer said it was purchased for a student, was more comfortable in hot weather than the leather chair it replaced, and that it had held up well for daily use.

Whether you choose one of the chairs reviewed here, or another desk chair, productivity will be your return on investment if you choose a quality product.

]]> http://www.savingconsumerstime.com/2008/10/office-chair-computer-chair-and-ergonomic-chair-reviews/feed/ 0 http://www.savingconsumerstime.com/2008/10/keurig-and-senseo-single-serve-coffee-machine-reviews-keurig-b60-keurig-b70-and-other-recommendations/ http://www.savingconsumerstime.com/2008/10/keurig-and-senseo-single-serve-coffee-machine-reviews-keurig-b60-keurig-b70-and-other-recommendations/#comments Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:16:11 +0000 admin http://www.savingconsumerstime.com/?p=67 Single serve coffee machines, those that brew one cup at a time, offer several advantages over multiple-cup coffee makers. First of all, each person can choose exactly the type of coffee he/she likes. Imagine having exactly the cup of coffee you want every time… you will never have to settle on a less-than-perfect cup of coffee because it’s what everyone can agree on.  The second advantage they offer is speed:  The high-quality machines can brew a fresh cup for you in seconds. Third, they hold an advantage in cost per cup: If you drive through Starbucks every morning and pay several dollars for a cup of coffee that is uniquely to your taste, now you’ll be able to brew something you love just as much at home for much less.  Finally, single-serve coffee makers are a great conversation piece: When you have friends over, they’ll look forward to trying it for themselves.

While our research indicated that Senseo single serve coffee systems were the most popular, we found that Keurig single serve coffee makers were the most highly rated. Keurig makes several different systems, from the B40, a basic model, to the more advanced B60, all the way up to the Keurig B70, loaded with bells and whistles.  All the Keurig coffee makers use “K-cups,” or “pods,” which are specially made to work with the Keurig coffee systems.  One of the reasons Keurig enjoys such great reviews is that many gourmet coffee, tea, and cocoa manufacturers support its products. You can get K-cups from Green Mountain, Celestial Seasonings, Ghirardelli’s, Diedrich, Timothy’s, Newman’s Own, and many more suppliers of fine coffee.  The K-cups are widely available where consumers shop for fine coffee.

The entry-level Keurig single serve system is the Keurig B40 coffee maker. You can can insert a K-cup into the B40 and select one of two sizes, a 7 1/4 ounce cup size, or a larger 9 1/4 ounce mug, and your coffee will be ready in seconds.  A 48 ounce water reservoir allows you to brew multiple cups of coffee without having to refill the B40.  One reviewer complimented the B40 on “no mess and fuss,” and points out that you can find a wide selection of K-cups online at very reasonable prices.  She and her husband like to have friends over to try the coffee maker, and “our guests are always impressed that they can choose their own blend and flavor.”  Several reviewers gave or received the B40 as a gift, expecting it to find its way into the closet soon after; but instead, they have loved it so much that they ended up using it every day to brew coffee.  “So easy,” wrote one reviewer who is the only coffee drinker in her house.

The Keurig B60 coffee maker offers an additional cup size (a 5 1/4 oz. cup), and also gives you more control over the brewing temperature and time. One Keurig B60 owner points out that you also get “beautiful blue LEDs behind the display and water tank, as well as a polished chrome handle and a polished chrome outer ring to the display.”  Another pointed out that after finishing one cup, the B60 was ready to brew another in only 30 seconds.  Another reviewer went into more detail about the temperature control:  It can be adjusted between 192 degrees and a cooler 187 degrees Fahrenheit in 1-degree increments.  “My kids loved using it for hot chocolate,” wrote the author of another Keurig B60 review.  Another owner notes that you can find the K-cups just about anywhere – “Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sears, Macy’s, and even some supermarkets.” Or, if you don’t want to buy K-cups, you can purchase the Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter to use any gourmet coffee with the Keurig B60.

The Keurig B70 Coffee Maker offers the most convenience, cup sizes, and brewing options. It adds a 9 1/4 ounced cup and an 11 1/4 ounce sized mug to the options the Keurig B60 offers. The blue backlit 60-ounce reservoir, larger than the other Keurig coffee makers’ 48-ounce reservoir, allows you to brew additional cups of coffee without a refill.  It has an Iced Coffee setting, piping 4 oz. of brew through for an especially strong iced beverage. “The smaller amount of hot liquid gets diluted to exactly the right strength when you add it to ice,” a reviewer wrote.

Another reviewer uses his B70 coffee maker every morning, and estimates his K-cups cost about 60 cents apiece, compared to the $1.93/cup he used to spend every morning at Dunkin’ Donuts. Other reviewers loved the fact that the B70 is programmable.  You can schedule the Keurig B70 to power up and heat the water shortly before everyone wakes up, and schedule it to power down at a later time, after everyone will have had their coffee for the day. As with all the Keurig units, reviewers loved the large number of options available in K-cups, including “a yummy white hot chocolate” and Timothy’s Lemon Blueberry tea among the many options for the non-coffee drinkers in the house.

Amazon carries a large selection of K-cup coffee, tea, and cocoa as well as the Keurig coffee makers themselves.

The Senseo coffee maker uses “pods,” similar to K-cups, to brew single-serve cups of coffee. The Senseo appears to be more popular than the Keurig models, based on the number of reviews written on Amazon and on Google search results; however, the Senseo coffee maker is not quite as highly rated, although still very well liked. In addition to the mild, medium, dark, and decaffeinated pods, specialty pods are available including Paris Vanilla Bistro, Killarney Irish Creamery, Vienna Hazelnut Waltz, Senseo Sumatra, and Senseo Cappuccino. The cappuccino pod is specially designed with the creamer in a separate “honeycomb,” so that it blends with the coffee easily, producing an extra-luxurious drink.  There are also non-Senseo pods available, and several reviewers thought those were much better than the Senseo-brand pods.

A couple of others you may want to consider:

• Bunn MCP My Cafe Professional-Grade Single-Serve Coffee/Tea Machine
• Flavia J10NBK Fusion Drinks Station

Whichever model you choose, you’ll be able to brew exactly the cup of coffee you want, for far less than you would pay at Starbucks or other major coffee chain stores.  Happy drinking!

The Audio Technica ATH ANC7 headphones are very well-liked among people who own them.  Many reviewers compared them favorably to Bose Quietcomfort2 headphones which cost approximately twice as much. One reviewer who wore them on a plane said that with music turned off, it seemed as if he was in a room by himself.  With music, he could turn his iPod to 25% of total volume and hear every note.  “The sound of screaming kids is now a distant memory on those 9 hour flights,” another reviewer wrote.  He was also quite happy with the 60 hours of listening time on one AAA battery.

A 61-year-old with serious hearing loss plugged these into a pair of low-end computer speakers and was amazed.  “For the first time in years I can listen to music and enjoy full sound,” he wrote.  He was thrilled to be able to watch a movie, actually be able to hear it, and yet not bother those living with him.

An office cubicle dweller also found that these eliminated all her distractions by “two heavy sighers, a pounding typist, peripheral conference and personal calls,” and other office sounds.  She said they work with or without an audio source, are very portable, and the circuitry does not introduce static.  “Just perfect,” she concluded.

A bush hogger operating a Ford utility tractor found he was able to use the Audio-Technica headphones to listen to audio books while he worked.  He also found they worked well for music and talk radio on XM, and recommended them to anyone working in a loud environment.

The Koss Pro-4AA Studio Quality Headphones have a “retro” look to them, and there’s a very good reason for that – they’ve been used in professional recording studios for ages. There are good reasons recording engineers choose them – a reviewer complimented these phones for “amazing sound reproduction with the widest range of frequency response” with “deep bass and crisp highs.”  He said that every CD, record, and digital audio file he ran through the Koss headphones sounded much improved.

He also said they are “built like a tank,” which can be taken as a big advantage, although also a slight disadvantage (several reviewers commented on their heaviness).  However, because they are so well-built, Koss can afford to cover them with a no-questions-asked lifetime warranty. If they stop working for any reason, simply return them to the manufacturer, and Koss sends you a new pair.

The award for “best value for the money” in this class of headphones would likely go to the Sennheiser EH-150 Evolution Hi-Fi Stereo Headphones. Costing just a fraction of what the headphones listed above cost, the Sennheiser EH 150 Evolution headphones’ sound was described by one reviewer as “rich, full, textured, deep.”  She went on to say that she could detect tiny details and even flaws in the music.  She also complimented their lightness compared to many noise-canceling headphones, and the fact that they don’t clamp onto her head too tightly.  She noted that to get a pair of headphones that are of substantially higher quality, you’d have to spend a LOT more, perhaps on the Sennheiser EH-150 Evolution Hi-Fi Stereo Headphones, which as of this writing are more expensive than the EH 150 headphones by more than a factor of ten.

Some others you may want to consider:

• Able Planet Sound Clarity Active Noise Canceling Headphones
• Sony MDR-XD400 Stereo Headphones

… or, you can browse Amazon’s complete selection of noise canceling headphones to find what you want.  Whether your intention is to hear your music at the highest clarity, or just to get some peace and quiet, you should be able to find a pair of noise canceling headphones that do the job.