Accsoon TopRig S40 Review – Is It Worth It?

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Accsoon TopRig S40 Review – Is It Worth It?

Accsoon TopRig S40

I have to say right away that I am NOT a professional photographer. And I don’t know much about this stuff. Anyway, I picked up an Accsoon TopRig S40 Camera Slider to try to improve my blog photos

and videos. A little motion, similar to the Ken Burns effect, really makes things pop when done correctly.

Camera sliders can be pretty expensive. I did a ton of research and landed on the Accsoon TopRig S40 partly due to some reviews I saw, and partly because the price was right at $249. I bought this with my own money. Most things I review here are sent to me.

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Foxwell Borescope Review

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Foxwell Borescope Review

Foxwell Borescope

I first learned what a borescope is in the early 1980’s when I was an aircraft mechanic in the US Navy. To me it was a marvel of engineering and almost seemed like science fiction. Today you can buy a Foxwell Borescope (FY406D) that is probably a thousand times better than the one I first saw and certainly a heck of a lot less expensive ($189.99 currently on Amazon).

There is a less expensive version called the Y400 which you can buy for $129.99.

When given the opportunity to review this I jumped at the chance. Conversely, I have several really good uses for it. Additionally, I believe every homeowner should have one of these. Not too long ago we figured out rodents had tunneled into our flexible duct work under the house. I had it all ripped out and replaced. Additionally, I plan on using this borescope to routinely inspect the ductwork as far as the probe length allows. This could end up paying for itself quickly. And it provides proof to my wife that the critters have not returned.

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ACMER Ascarva 4S CNC Upgrade

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ACMER Ascarva 4S CNC Upgrade

Recently I reviewed the ACMER Ascarva 4S entry level CNC machine. It is a great first machine but is greatly improved by adding a beefier power supply and faster spindle. The ACMER Ascarva 4S CNC Upgrade kit replaces the existing spindle which is a 70 watt, 8,000 rpm motor.

The upgrade kit adds a 500 watt and 12,000 rpm air cooled spindle. This will give the Ascarva 4S a lot more bite.

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Sainlogic Weather Station SA6 Plus Review

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Sainlogic Weather Station SA6 Plus Review

Sainlogic Weather Station

I got my hands on yet another Sainlogic Weather Station to review. Enter the Sainlogic SA6 Plus.

I love all of them but this one has one feature that stands out. A visual monitor. With most stations you can set your sensor outside and get real time conditions from your own yard.

Then you can retrieve that data from the Weatherseed application on your smart device. But let’s be honest here. If you pick up your cell phone there is probably a weather widget on the home screen that can give you plenty of weather information for you location. The advantage to using a Sainlogic Weather Station is that you are PART OF SOMETHING if you upload your data to the WeatherUnderground API.

But how much better is it that you don’t have to grab a phone and navigate to an app? All you need to do with the Sainlogic SA6 Plus is to look at the connected display.

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2025 Piece Of Fucking Shit Award

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2025 Piece Of Fucking Shit Award

It’s been a while since I’ve done this. And to make it worse I have tried real hard to behave in a manner in which would make me and others around me proud. But every once in a while you need to call out a POS. So before the year ends I aim to award the coveted John’s Tech Blog Piece Of Fucking Shit Award to the biggest POS out there.

This year it goes to a company called Sidio or SidioCrate. They can’t really make up their mind what they are called.

I’d love to tell you the stackable crate I ordered was a POS however I don’t have it yet despite the fact that I ordered it on Nov 29th. They made a label on the 8th but it didn’t actually show up to a shipping point and actually move for a few days after that.

Allow me to clarify: IT TOOK THEM 10 DAYS JUST TO MAKE A SHIPPING LABEL.

Oh, and I forgot the fact that I paid $7.99 for that shipping.

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Best Gear Of 2025

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Best Gear Of 2025

And yet another trip around the sun is near to completion. What was the Best Gear of 2025? These are a few of my favorites. Let me know in the comments what your selection for the best gear of the passing year is.

Computer Hardware

I should have added this to the bottom as a grand finale, but it also fits nicely at the top. For 2025 the Beelink Me Mini is one of my top picks for Gear Of The Year.

It is a high capacity NAS that is SILENT and uses NVME M.2 SSD drives for data storage. While the Beelink Me Mini is inexpensive, sadly memory prices have exploded. I got mine just in time it seems.

Equipped with 16 GB of built in RAM and four 4TB drives nets you about 12TB of storage in a RAIDZ1 configuration. Even better is that you can install TrueNAS on this device. This is replacing my very noisy QNAP NAS appliance.

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BeVigor CR123A Battery Review

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BeVigor CR123A Battery Review

BeVigor CR123A

The battery manufacturer BeVigor reached out to me recently and asked if I would be interested in reviewing some batteries, and if so, which ones. I opted for the BeVigor CR123A Battery. I’m one of those unusual people that use a LOT of CR123A batteries. Not only are they expensive usually, the ones I have used just don’t last that long.

The Company

I’m told the company name “BeVigor” is a play on words for “be vigorous”!

And sure enough my volt meter does imply strength and energy. I supply the enthusiasm. Allow me to demonstrate my enthusiasm by reading on.

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HiBoost Cell Phone Booster Review

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HiBoost Cell Phone Booster Review

HiBoost Cell Phone Booster

I get some great stuff here at John’s Tech Blog and this certainly tops the list. HiBoost has graciously provided me their HiBoost Cell Phone Booster to review. This is primarily targeted for Overland and Off Road explorers who might find themselves in weak cell phone signal areas.

The version sent to me to review is the Travel 3.0 ExplorerX. The other version is targeted towards Truck Drivers and SUV drivers and is called the Travel 3.0 Truck.

*****NOTE: BIG CHRISTMAS SALE December 24th to December 31st, and the price will be $417.51*****

It should be noted right out of the gate that you can’t boost a signal that doesn’t exist.

In my current location cell reception is pretty poor. Can you hear ME now, Verizon? We live on the edge of the Croatan National Forest and our neighborhood is heavily wooded. At best we get 2 reception bars on a good day.

And I should also note that mobile boosters and in home boosters are two different animals entirely. I promise you though that I’m going to test this at our home regardless.

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Ancel IR101 Thermal Camera Review

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Ancel IR101 Thermal Camera Review

Having a Tech Blog almost certainly involves having some fancy tech tools. One of the coolest (pun intended) tools I’ve stumbled across is the Ancel IR101 Thermal Camera.

Thermal cameras are awesome for identifying heat related issues as well as a whole bunch of other uses.

And for full disclosure, as always, Ancel provided me this IR101 to review. I’m not being paid to post this, and I’m not an affiliate of theirs, and there is no pressure, nor payout for a good review.

The device pictured has an Apple Lightning connector and is for older iPhones and iPad’s with that connector. The Ancel IR101 is also available in a USB-C form factor for newer iPhones or Android phones. And there is a cable which can convert the lightning connector on the camera to a USB-C male connector. And in fact, I bought this cable, with my own money.

There are a lot of choices for smart phone thermal cameras and the strength really lays in the application or software used. So far, I am really loving the app (Ancel IR in the Apple App Store) and working my way through all the of software options. And there are a lot!

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Don’t Use The Shop App

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Don’t Use The Shop App

Shop App

Ever seen this logo before?

This is going to be a super short, and straight to the point blog entry.

If you are doing some online purchasing and you see the seller encourages you to use the Shop App, run do not walk to another web site. Sadly websites such as Leatherman have started using this. And that is only one example.

I’m not saying “Don’t buy a Leatherman”, because they are awesome. I’m saying “Don’t buy one from their online store which uses the Shop app”. Go to the store and buy one.

I recently bought a couple items online and received subsequent emails telling me that in order to track my shipment I needed the Shop app. I receive lots of equipment to review and I buy some gizmos myself quite frequently.

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