Keychron K1 Mechanical Keyboard - Brown Switch

 

This is very late review (see some dust in the box :-) )

When you are doing a lot of typing a good keyboard is a must. Laptop keyboard is mostly ok but sometimes having a separate keyboard add some adventure in a bored WFH setup for most people. As a software engineer, I do a lot of typing in my furnace like Dell laptop. I have an external monitor which is a must for productivity and it is more pleasant to the eyes. Laptop screen is just ok but added real estate of an external monitor helps see more code and of course, it is great in watching Netflix and Youtube :-).

Looking around the internet I found the Keychron which look good in the picture and some videos. I ended buying the one without the number pad as I don't want a long keyboard and I don't normally use them. 

The keyboard really looks great. I bought the RGB variant as I don't want to get bored by just having a white backlit. Multiple colors is better, I guess.

I like the feedback of the brown key. Tactile is not soft nor springy. Just feel right if you are typing for a couple of hours. It has also some slanting to it, similar to a Macbook Air to prevent carpal tunnel, I guess, or just to make it more easy on your hands. But putting some feet to it makes it more fun to use. 

Bought Nilkin laptop feet to help add some height on the keyboard to make it more comfortable to use. 

Initially, I encountered some bluetooth connection issue but I think it was due to Windows rather than the keyboard since I have not encounter the same issue after a couple of Windows update. Also, to conserve the battery, the keyboard shutoff after a few minutes of being idle and will take around 2-3 seconds to wake up. 

I bought the keyboard for 4,740.00 PHP in Lazada but currently it's price is 3,640.00 PHP! That is more than 1K discount!

Logitech K380 - Best alternative for Apple keyboard

Macbook user knows that butterfly keyboard sucks! In my case, I have an early 2016 Macbook 12 inch which have these key type. First issue I experienced is the fading of key caps which I fixed by putting a sticker with larger lettering (can't find sticker with the same size as the letter in the Mac key cap)! Second issue is unresponsive keys due to dirt, so, I bought a pressurize air can to blow away the dirt which somehow fixes the problem. 

Still I hate typing on the keyboard now as most of the keys are quite beat up with a few of them covered with sticker. I thought, why torture myself on using the keyboard which now I hated! Maybe a bluetooth keyboard would help me ease the pain :-). I googled for the best but cheap keyboard and found the k380 with quite a couple of good reviews. Watch the Youtube to find out more about the keyboard and finally decided to buy one from Lazada. 

After 4 days, I received the keyboard (some shipping in Lazada seems faster). The cost is 1,995 PHP which is cheaper than the Apple keyboard. 

The keyboard is made of plastic but still feel premium. Key travel is great, almost sounds like a mechanical keyboard. The color I bought is off white which I think is a good color for non-backlit keyboard. It is a multi-device keyboard which means it can connect to a PC, IOS and Mac. There are Mac keys not available as it seems geared more towards IOS but Logitech provided a way to customize four top keys, i.e. using the Logi Option application which is downloadable from their site.

There are four keys that are available for customization. In my case I used two of the keys for adjusting the brightness. For Mac, some security options should be enabled for Logi Option for it to be able to listen for the key stroke to handle customization. In terms of CPU and RAM impact, it is very minimal to Nill. 

The keyboard has some ergonomic design to it. It has slanting surface similar to a Macbook Air design for easy typing. Depends on the height of the table where you are typing, I think the degree is just enough. In my case, I need a bit of height which can be compensated by a cheap keyboard/laptop feet (just ordered from Lazada and and it is already being shipped).

I love the keyboard, so far. Typing is a great, good key travel, easy to get use to it and it can connect up to three devices!

 

The only thing I love to have for this keyboard is a backlit but with its price, I should not complain. But, but, please add indicator for caps lock, please!

Timex Easy Reader 40th Anniversary Edition

I found this one as I am browsing the web to look for a good and affordable watch. I read that most of the casual user prefer Timex easy reader as an everyday watch. The size is not big which will quitely slips through cuffs. The face is easy to read and indiglo is dependable companion during night or when the light is low. 

I checked www.amazon.com and found the 40th edition which I think is better that buying the non-edition model. The price is just right for people with shallow pocket like me. What I did not consider is the shipping which almost cost the same as the price! I am buying fromwww.amazon.com US and shipping the item to Philippines via www.my-shoppingbox.com. The reason why I forced to buy from www.amazon.com is because the Timex store in the Manila doesn't have yet the edition stock.

After a couple of weeks, I received the watch. It has a soft leather band with red keeper and red at the edge of the band which make it look a bit premium. The face is white with very easy to read arabic numbers. The hour and minute arms are black with second arm in red. The band has 18mm width which will look like a toy watch for anyone with a big arm. Luckily, my arm is small which is a good size for this watch. I think this watch will look stunning if I change the band to stainless.

At back of the watch is the 40th anniversary stamped into it.




Red color at the end of the band and 'T' on the crown.

Manual Coffee Grinder

As usual, lazada tempted me again to spend my hard earned cash. Looking at the site, I found something that I really wanted to own; a manual coffee grinder. Yes! A coofee grinder that I will enable me to brew freshly grinded coffee. I used to buy coffee beans from Starbucks and let them grind it. A 250 gms would last me more than 2 weeks. At the end of the second week, tastes start to change. It lacks the freshness of newky grinded coffee which what makes people crave for it.

To brew a fresh grinded coffee, you have to have a grinder. Electric ones cost more than 2 thousand! That is way beyond my budget. Luckily, I found an affordable alternative albeit manual.

The grinder cost 480 pesos including the shipping fee. I got it after a couple of days and used it immediately. It has ceramic ‘teeth’ and a crank which double as hand exercise machine. One full grinding is enough for 3 cups of coffee but for a lighter brewing, 5 cups I think.

So, for coffee lovers; it is one of the must haves to own.

Regular packaging, doesn't look expensive.













Cranking is easy but doing it for 3 - 5 minutes hurt a bit though.

Sandisk Ultra 32GB OTG Dual Drive USB 3.1 Type-C

The hassle of using Windows and Mac laptop. Going from USB Type A to USB Type C. Of course there is no missing out the dongle that you need to buy to be able to copy your files to the Mac from Type A USB drive, dang!

As I want to easily copy files from my Windows laptop to my Macbook 12-inch laptop, I decided to look for a flash drive that has both Type A and C port. As a regular customer of Lazada, where else should I start looking?

So, I login to my laptop search of Sandisk drive which support both type of ports. Luckily, I found one which I think is a good one as it hide the USB connector (no metal tip protruding in both ends of the drive). Although, I would love to have the 64GB but it is not available which forces me to buy the 32GB version. I think the price is fair for this capacity. It is way cheaper than buying from physical store in malls. I paid 699 pesos as the price does not include the shipping fee.

Delivery is a breeze. It took just 3 days to receive the product. I am kind of excited to use this USB stick as it will help me get rid of the dongle ('the dongle'). I believe it is a very important companion for software engineer like me. Especially that I am using different type of laptops. 

Here are may 'not expert' writeup for this drive.

699 pesos - gone are the free shipping from Lazada.




The familiar blue plastic where the product was secured during delivery. I used scissor to cut it clean as I re-use it for something else. 




The USB drive is secured in a bubble wrap. The seller shows a great care not to damage the product during shipment. So, got mine pristine.






The package contains a leaflet with warning not to buy from unauthorized store. This product comes from Lazada authorized store. Hopefully, I got the authentic one. Cross my fingers.





Hiding the Type A and Type C connector.




The USB Type A connector for laptop with no Type C port.




Of course, the USB Type C connector. Now I can use this drive to copy file to and from my Macbook.




Write speed is quite good. Read is around 150MB/s which make transfer of file from this drive to destination folder a breeze. I am satisfied of the transfer speed vs my very old Sony 8GB drive.

Orient Bambino White Dial-Rose Gold - #AC00002W

My second automatic watch and it is hand-wind too.

Honestly, I’ve no idea about Orient brand... 

I know of Swatch, Seiko, Citizen, Casio and other brand I normally see at shopping malls and the watch my family and friends own (Rolex and Omega are not in my list, so you know that I am not rich). Maybe because they don't do mainstream advertisement which is why people like myself don't know or has little knowledge of this brand (I might be wrong though). I was introduced to this  watch brand after reading the Philippine watch collector's forum, i.e. www.philippinewatchclub.org. They (the experts) say that Orient is a good Japanese watch brand. Quality is at par with Seiko and Citizen and it is budget-friendly too.

I am new to watch collection. I just started collecting automatic and quartz watches. As I don’t have budget for high-end watches, I make sure that I will bought only the watch that is within my budget and I can practically use. I don’t want to buy a watch that will end up in a display. I think when you are tight in a budget, you look for other practical reasons why you want to build a watch collection.

At may age (46 years old), I want to collect a watch that I can hand down to  my kids. Something that will last a couple of decades (or outlast me) which they can enjoy and appreciate. I know nowadays that people are more keen to own ‘smart watch’ than quartz or automatic ones. Probably only a few breeds are left still wanting a watch that just tell time and leave the smart thing to the wearer. I would presume those are people who was able to enjoy the old technologies and the new cutting-edge ones. I am talking things like pager, Nokia 5110 and bulky television. People who lived in my teenage era are those that love their not-so-smart watch. Those are the people I know will appreciate automatic watches.

I am not into diver's watch…

I like dress watch more which I can wear during church services and on some formal and semi-formal occasions. I first seen a Bambino white dial at lazada.ph. I like the look of the watch and the price is quite within my budget. I started looking for other Bambino watch design in the internet and luckily I found the longislandwatch.com which published reviews of the Bambinos. I immediately fell in-love with the rose gold with white dial. So, I tasked myself of finding where I can buy this watch locally. I search the internet further and found the philippinewatchclub.org where there are traders that offers Bambino at a competitive price. Compare to lazada.ph price of 9,000 plus, I got my Bambino for 7.5K pesos.

The payment is thru BPI deposit to the seller account. It is the risk that I have to take when I decided to buy from the 'gray' market. Lucky for me, the seller is the honest one. I got my shining Bambino after 3 days which the seller shipped thru LBC (YARI ang padala but not this time).

The watch is awesome!

Perfect as a dress watch, very simple and few complications but elegant. Shiny rose gold plated body and hour and minute arms moving over the white dial. I personally like the leather band which doesn’t feel cheap. It is semi-shiny which is perfect and quality is superb. The size is perfect for my small wrist and height is not thick. The watch is really a head-turner but not loud enough to get too much attention. I would say, this is a great watch better than my Seiko, definitely!

Another thing I really love about this watch is the power reserve. I just have to wind it once a day which is enough to make the watch work like a horse for more than one day. This is a beautiful watch which I will definitely enjoy for a long time.

Attention to detail. Very nice.

Perfect for my wrist. Rose gold is really a star!

Seiko Automatic - SNZG15K1

My first automatic watch… but will not recommend this particular model for anyone to own.

Like any new guy in watch collection fever and based on what I read from the cyber-space, I think Seiko is one of the brand that is a good ‘practice’ watch. Quality is good and with an affordable price which is a good news for someone like me who has a shallow pocket.

I initially decided to buy SNK805 or SNK809 but when I went to SM North Seiko Authorized Dealer, I was immediately fell inlove by the look and size of SNZG15K1; black canvas watch band and bigger dial. Though the band is not comfortable to wear because of some lose threads scratching your skin but I think after a few months of use, it will smooth out or you can change it to some after market watch band; which I did.

Actually, SNK805/809 has a similar look as SNZG15K1 albeit smaller. Based on the reviews, it is a good watch to own if you are starting your watch collection. But with a thousand pesos difference with SNZG15K1, I decided to go for the bigger dial.

SNZG15K1 metal case top part has a matte texture while the lower part shines. As this watch is sports model, you will expect some beating which I think why the top part has matte texture. Shiny case is not good as the matte texture in hiding scratches.  The the 3 o'clock crown has the right size which is easy to use during resetting of time, date and day of the week. To set the date, pull the crown halfway and turn clockwise. Turn the crown counter-clockwise to change the day of the week. Except for Sunday which is red, date and day complications uses white font.
The dial has an elevated hour and minute markings with arabic for hours and 24-hours format in the inner lower part of the dial. It help on the aesthetic part of the watch and help dampen the busy look of the dial.

The only gripe I have with this watch is the power reserve which is only around 10 hours or sometimes way less. You will surely need to reset the watch if you left it for more than 10 hours. Having an automatic winder can help avoid the hassle of winding the watch often - but with its price, I don’t think that is sensible.

See through back cover. Mesmerizing components that makes the clock tick. I am not sure how tough is the cover. So far, it has no visible scratches (yet).

I like the contrast of the white arms and markings against the black dial. The 41 mm width is exactly right size for my wrist size and it is not too thick; still a good dress watch if you change the band to a leather. The dial has day and date complication with un-hackable second hand. Day is in Spanish and english (who still use spanish in asia?).

As I said, good size for my small wrist.

Canvas band not really comfortable to wear but quite sturdy. 

Good packaging. Box contains the watch pillow, manual and warranty card. Hopefully, I will not have to use the warranty provided.

Change to leather band bought from Asprey for 450 pesos. I looked for a semi-shiny one but it is not available. Now, I can use the watch for semi-formal occasion.

Authentic and good quality leather from Asprey.

With comfortable leather watch band.

UPDATE

After a 2 months of use, I can definitely say that I will NOT RECOMMEND this watch. The meager power reserve is something that you would not expect from Seiko. Most of the time power reserve is just about 3 hours! Unacceptable right? Sometimes the day stops in Spanish or halfway to its full turn. Very disappointed.