Ball String Lights,100 LED 33ft/10m Globe Fairy Lights

I was SO excited to purchase these LED Fairy Lights. 33ft is the longest strand I've personally come across and I'm crazy about this kind of lighting.

Unfortunately, the quality of these lights ended up being quite poor. Here's how the unboxing went (or you can always skip the video...I'm embarrassing) haha:



So, what's good? I did get these up over my back deck. And they look really, really cute.

33 ft is very long. This only took one strand. That's amazing. I love that they are LEDs, so no bulbs to replace. No worries about energy consumption or shorting out the strand by bumping a bulb. 

The bulbs are tiny and cute. The description calls them "fairy lights" and I think it's a great description. It also comes with a remote at 7 different speed/fade settings. This is cool, I guess, but in practice, there are maybe two of the settings I'd really use. The rest are pretty frenetic and are far too distracting. 

There is a plug on the back end of the strand, so you could string a bunch of these together and have an awesome long string of lights. 

What's not so good?

The cable for these lights is super flimsy. I don't know how you could store this set to keep it from becoming one big tangled mess. 

Speaking of mess, the bulb covers appear to be put on using hot glue and there were hot glue strands everywhere when I opened the box and started unpacking these. It was a real mess. 

I also lost a bulb cover right as I pulled it out of the box. Popped right off. Another popped off while I was putting them up. I was able to put the covers back on, but I'm not optimistic that I won't lost more over time (hot glue was used to adhere them, if you recall)...

Some of the bulb covers were dirty. Not sure what it was. But there was a dirt-looking film on some of the bulbs. 

No instructions provided. 

So, the bottom line, these are cheap, poor quality lights. I don't know expect them to last me long. But they are really pretty. They might be a worthwhile investment for short-term use like a wedding or party. 

But, I'll leave you with the awesome box description so I don't leave you too sad. 

Premium Magnetic Screen Door

I had the opportunity recently to order and try out a Premium Magnetic Screen Door by Premium Choice Products.

I was really excited for this product. I have a pond behind my house and, while we are fortunate not to have many mosquitos, there are lots of little annoying bugs. And at night, they flock to the windowed french doors and the inside lights. If we open the door, there is always a flood of little bugs that come inside. 

This seemed like a good solution to limit the number of bugs that get inside. And it is!


Pros:
Installation was a breeze. The screen came with sticky-back velcro to attach to the door frame. The screen itself has velcro all around, so you just connect those up and are good to go! It did come with tacks for additional security, but so far (it's been up for nearly a week) I haven't needed those. 

Easy walk-through. You can easily walk through the screen hands free. 

Pretty transparent. I was concerned about buying the black screen, as I have a nice view out my back door and did not want to obscure that view. The screen has not bothered me one bit and still allows me to see outside. 

Cons: 
Not magnets along the entire seam. The entire seam doesn't have magnets along it. The gaps in magnets results in some gaps in the screen. It was still pretty effective for keeping the swarms of bugs from coming in, but it didn't close evenly. This may be addressable by realigning the screen, but everything I tried did not remove those gaps.

Magnetic was a problem. My doors and doorframe have metal in them. So, about 50% of the time (especially if I pushed through hands free) the bottom magnets would stick to the door or frame and not close. Steel doors are pretty common for outdoor doors, so this could be a problem depending on what type of doors you have. 

Overall I think this is a worthwhile product that has limited bugs getting into our house, but it's not quite the "magic" screen that it is billed to be. 

I was given this product for free or at a reduced price, for my honest and truthful unbiased review. 
All opinions are my own. I am a consumer. I personally buy and use every product I review.

DigiOcean Tempered Glass Screen Protector

Hey there!

Today I'm going to be reviewing the DigiOcean Tempered Glass Screen Protector (for iPhone 6+ in my case). They also make it for the 4.7" iPhone.

I was really excited to try a tempered glass screen protector. My last screen protector was a plastic privacy screen protector and it got dented and messed up really quickly/easily and did not have a good feel to the fingers.

The DigiOcean protector was super easy to apply (see the video below). It came with a cleansing cloth and a card to push out any bubbles. All I had to do was clean my screen, peel off the plastic protector on the screen cover and line it up on the screen. It took minutes.

The protector feels amazing. Just like the glass of the phone. The screen responds great as well. I'm most impressed with the color that comes through. After having the dull and scratched screen protector, I didn't know how vibrant the colors of my phone were, and this protector doesn't limit that at all. The colors of my phone come through full and bright.

The only negatives I might mention are that the screen protector just barely reaches the edges of the screen and I do with is was a couple millimeters wider. Additionally, it's pretty thick, so there is a noticeable ridge when you go to push the home button. The instructions indicate that it came with a home button sticker...but it did not. I'm not sad about that, but the ridge will take a little getting used to.

Overall, definitely extremely please with this screen cover. I'll amend this post if anything changes!


*I received this item at no cost for testing purposes.