Overall Impression We tested these nifty little in-ear speakers for daily use as well as on domestic and international flights. They reduced ambient noise, making it more comfortable to hear music and audio recordings on an MP3 player and keeping airplane noises out. It was amazing how well they worked and how comfortable they felt. We could wear them for hours without tiring.

In contrast to other noise reduction headsets we’ve tried these were light weight and small, especially convenient for travel. In addition to the weight differential, these speakers required no batteries. Thanks to the tiny size and wee weight they could be stored easily for travel, in the small pouch they came with, and retrieved quickly. The only improvement we would make would be to find a way for the wires to remain untangled.

Part of the effectiveness of these speakers, in contrast with regular ear buds and full sized noise reduction headsets, stemmed from creating a proper seal in the ear canal with the silicone ear buds. It took some practice to insert and remove them but overall the effect was noticeable. We tried the foam ear buds without much success. Overall they have become a favorite, especially for flights where weight restrictions and security checks are becoming increasingly strict.

Box Contained One pair of StudioPhonic HEAROS TM In-Ear Spakers, 5-foot cable, 3.5 mm stereo plug, 2 replacement In-Ear speaker filters, short clip, filter changing tool, two replacement 20 dB noise reducing ear tips, two foam 20dB noise reducing ear tips, carrying case, and instruction card.

Colors Black

Made In China

Manufacturer-Distributor Made for DAP World, Inc. by Etymotic Research

Retail Price $200

Sizes Only one size

Type Of Product Noise reduction ear phones

Warranty 90 days

Weight 12 grams

Features Noise reduction between 15 and 20 dB; frequency response 20 Hz to 16 kHz; tolerance +/- 3dB to 6 kHz, +/-6 to 16kHz; dynamic transducer; impedance of 48 ohms; maximum outpost of 120 dB SPL

Other Although we were able to get them to fit, the manufacturer stresses the importance of inserting and sealing the speakers and noise reducing tips in the user’s ear canals. Every so often it is necessary to replace (they cannot be cleaned) the filters to maintain the noise reduction quality. According to the instructions this can be done by the user. Two sets of replacement filters and a replacement tool were included with our in-ear speakers for this purpose.

There were double dome silicone and round foam ear tips to choose from. There is a right and left speaker clearly marked with an “R” and “L.”

Cleaning The silicone ear tips can be rinsed with water and mild soap

Countries Where Tested U.S., France and Germany

Date Of Review September 2006

Number Of Days Tested A combined total of four weeks over time

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression We liked the Lewis N. Clark color-coded pill case on extended trips. It was convenient to divide daytime and nighttime pills (blue for night and red for red for example) for 8 days of travel. It was possible for two people with different pill requirements traveling together to share a pill case. We like to use it for it for 16 days of travel for one or two travelers on the same trip. When there were two of us sharing the pill case for 16 days, we shared the 16 plastic pouches.

The transparent plastic pouches were easy to fill and zip, keeping pills and vitamins secure. We would often carry individual plastic pouches to breakfast or on the go when we had to take pills with a meal or during the course of the day and didn’t want to take the entire pill case along. A Velcro strip made it possible to close the pill case securely inside the suitcase for check in with the luggage.

Colors Black

Machine Washable The manufacturer’s recommendations were to hand wash and air dry

Made In China

Made Of Polyester, PVC removable pouches and Velcro fastener

Manufacturer-Distributor Lewis N. Clark

Retail Price $12

Sizes One size, 7¾ x 4 x 1”

Type Of Product Travel pill case

Warranty One year

Weight 5 oz (plus the weight of the pills)

Features Individual plastic pouches for 16 days. It included a medical reference card and a zippered pocket on the back to store prescriptions. Side locking closures, zippered pocket, can be shut when not in use.

Country(S) Tested France, The Bahamas, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and USA

Date Of Review August 2006

Number Of Days Tested On several trips

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall ImpressionWe now travel with so many gadgets, especially for long flights, we were hesitant to carry one more. The number of times we sat near screaming babies or obnoxious neighbors convinced us this was one item worth carrying if it reduced the intensity of the surrounding noises. It did.

The comfortable headset with an adjustable padded head band and padded over-the-ear cups, reduced the amount and sharpness of airplane engine and other sounds. It also improved the sound of the airplane audio so it was easier to hear and to distinguish words and sounds. An unexpected bonus was the ability to connect the Plane Quiet headset to our iPod player. The sound was excellent. The on and off button was easy to use and the volume control provided a broad range of sounds audible even with the airplane and surrounding noises.

BatteryOne AA for 14-35 hours of use

List Price $ 80

Manufacturer-Distributor Outside the Box, Inc.

Release Date2003

TechnologyErgonomic silver dome ear cups with PVC ear pads, 40 mm Neodymium drivers, 300 OHMS, 100 dB/mW. Power capacity 100 mA, 70 degrees Celsius maximum operating temperature. Frequency range 30-15,000Hz. 2.6 mm cord diameter adaptable dual pin jack with swivel mono pin.

Type Of Product Headset

WeightLess than 6 ounces

FeaturesWorks with airline entertainment systems, computers, MP3 and DVD players. FAA compliant. Eliminates up to 17 decibels across the sound spectrum. An integrated headset without attachments. Adjustable earphones. A power switch and volume control unit is attached to the plug cord. When only 30 minutes of battery remain,.the battery light indicator dims.

Other Lifetime warranty. 15-day money back guarantee if purchased from the manufacturer. The headset comes with a fabric carrying case and an adapter so two people can share an audio source.

Date Of Last Review December 2005

Number Of Days TestedMultiple transatlantic flights; numerous domestic flights

Would You Use This Product Again Yes

When: Developed in 1990

Purpose: To alleviate the symptoms of fatigue due to travel, and time zone crossing

Sold: International airports, online, travel stores and pharmacies.

Manufactured: New Zealand

Price: About $10 for a package of 32 tablets (40 hours of flying time worth). Includes a money back guarantee.

How: Take one or two tablets every few hours during a flight

Overall Impression After flying for two days from the U.S. through Europe, we were tired and jet lagged. The last thing we wanted to do was drive around a strange city famous for its high crime rate, in an unfamiliar car (and on the opposite side of the road). Everything worked out like a charm thanks in great part to our newest travel technology, the iQue 3600 from Garmin. Before leaving the U.S. we purchased the City Select South Africa software. It allowed us to navigate accurately and easily through South Africa’s two major cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, their environs and the Kruger Park in the North.

The iQue’s voice instructions were excellent and simple to follow with commands like “in five hundred meters, turn right” or “off course,” when we took a wrong turn. Even night driving was a breeze. It took a little getting used to the distances and the imagery on the IQue screen. In the case of City Select South Africa, we found that only urban areas were well mapped. Whenever we strayed from the cities, the detail in our maps faded, but waypoints and major roads were still a confidence builder. For us, the ideal combination was to have one person drive while the other focused on the iQue commands and images.

A dashboard antenna, purchased separately, allowed us to hold the iQue comfortably on our laps while navigating and driving around. A cigarette lighter charger fueled the iQue so we didn’t have to worry about batteries running out (this was also where the external speaker for the navigation was located). Battery life and power consumption when running the GPS were issues for us in remote parts of the bush. If the iQue ran completely empty of power, all the information in its memory would be lost and have to be reloaded from the laptop. We brought the Laplink USB cable which was invaluable for charging and synchronizing with the laptop.

The iQue’s organizer software was practical and efficient, allowing us to store and manipulate contact information and keep it synchronized with Microsoft Outlook. Documents to Go allowed us to view and manipulate Word and graphic files. The full color screen offered a high resolution and plenty of details for our purposes. We found the 3600 an ideal travel tool, especially in far away and unfamiliar places. It was fun to be able to mark waypoints across remote Botswana and determine our position and altitude. We look forward to continuing to use the iQue organizer and its integrated navigation functions in the future at home and for trips.

Applications PowerOne Personal Calculator and trial editions of: Astraware Game Pack, Documents to Go, DataViz Mail, Palm Reader, StarCaddy, Vindigo, WorldMate. We upgraded Documents to Go to take advantage of its capabilities to handle many tyupes of Microsoft Office documents.

Battery Internal Lithium-ion battery. A cradle was included to charge the iQue

Display : 2.16″ x 3.24″ (54 x 81 mm), 320 x 480-pixel, high-resolution color with virtual Graffiti™ area

Included Autopack with iQue 3600, USB recharging cradle, black protective cover, A/C power adaptor, Palm Desktop set up CD, two map installation CD’s, Map Source unlock code sheet, two Graffiti stickers, Quick Reference Guide, and Set Up Guide The package included a 256 Mb Secure Digital (SD) card to hold additional maps and documents, larger SD cards were available.

List Price Garmin: $643 and City Select South Africa: $233

Manufacturer-Distributor: Garmin

Release Date August 2003

Size 2.8″W x 5″H x .8″D (72 x 128 x 20.3 mm)

Support Though we had some trouble with the website using the mapping software unlock codes, but technical support responded quickly with an easy workaround. There was furthertroubleshooting information on the Garmin website

Technology And Built-In Devices Global Positioning System, GPS, antenna, display, speaker, microphone, touch screen, Palm OS 5.0, memory: RAM– 32 MB, processor– Motorola 150 MHz, input device: stylus, touch-screen, scroll button, wireless: IrDA

Type Of Product Palm Hanheld Organizer with GPS (global positioning system) integrated capabilities as well as U.S and South Africa map software

Warranty One year from date of purchase with an original or copy of the purchase receipt from the retailer where purchased. An online auction purchase confirmation was not acceptable for warranty purposes. Garmin had the option to use rebuilt (or new) parts when repairing a product under warranty at their sole discretion. It was unclear whether the owner would be notified which type of parts were used following a warranty repair. Owners wishing to have their products repaired under the warranty were required to mail them to Garmin directly and pay for the cost of mailing. Out-of-warranty unit owners would be subject to a minimum $150 repair fee and the cost of shipping.

Weight 5.7 oz

Features : 200 MHz processor, Palm OS 5.2.1, integrated Que technology , with Garmin GPS and mapping software, flip-up integrated GPS patch antenna speaker for voice guidance commands, MP3 player, message playback, built-in 32 MB of memory useful to download map data, and ARM 9 processor. There was an integrated SD card slot to provide additional non-volatile memory.

City Select South Africa integrated trip and waypoint management functions, detailed maps of select cities and towns in South Africa, map detail included motorways, national and regional thoroughfares and local roads with attributes such as turn restrictions, speed categories, displayed points of interest such as food and drink, lodging, gas stations, and hospitals, automatically created point-to-point routes in MapSource.

Other We loaded the worldwide base map, which provided major political boundaries, rivers and large highways. We were able to load the entire South Africa City Select and the U.S. maps around Florida into a 256 Mb SD card. A much larger card would be required to load all of the U.S.

Countries Tested : U.S.A., Botswana , South Africa and Zambia

Date Of Review November 2004

Number Of Days Tested Six months

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression Sassybax, an alternative bra designed by TV star Amanda Horan Kennedy to fight visible bra lines, was comfortable and practical enough for travel. Though none of the promotional materials recommended Sassybax for travel, they did say it was more comfortable than traditional under wire and sports bras. We tried it on a roundtrip transatlantic flight and during the trip.

We liked it and would travel with it again. It provided support and was comfortable to wear for long stretches of time. It was comfortable for less time outdoors in the summer heat. It was definitely more comfortable than an under wire bra. It was more comfortable and more flattering than a sports bra. The only drawback we found to our Cocoa model was that it was visible when worn with some sleeveless tops. Because of its cocoa color, it was noticeable with white or light colored blouses. We imagine that problem would disappear with the white model. The fabric was light when packing. It washed well and dried quickly without noticeable wear, loss of shape or discoloration.

Available At More than 30 stores in the U.S. including Neiman Marcus and online through the Sassybax website

Colors Available : Black, cocoa, nude, pink, white

List Price $58

Made In U.S.A.

Made Of Micro fiber nylon 96 % and Lycra ® spandex 4%

Manufacturer Sassybax

Release Date 2003

Size M

Sizes Available Petite, small, medium, large and extra large

Styles Available Bralette, Torso Trim, The Sport

Type Of Product Intimate apparel Bralette Cocoa

Washing Instructions Machine wash cold with like colors; gentle cycle; only use non-chlorine bleach; tumble dry low heat

Weight : 2 ounces

Date Of Review July 2004

Number Of Days Tested 23

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression Uri-Mate freed our minds from the worries associated with public bathrooms and situations with limited access to or less than desirable facilities. The Uri-Mate funnels were light weight, practical to carry in their individual packages, disposable, resistant to moisture during use and affordable. Uri-Mates could come in handy in many situations such as visiting a public restroom, having to use an Eastern toilet (flat on the ground), a latrine or outhouse or going camping, for urine tests and post surgery.

Included Eight individually wrapped disposable paper funnels

List Price $6.85 for a package of eight

Made In U.S.A.

Manufacturer-Distributor : Ibay Corp. & Herfum Enterprises/ Innova

Size 4’ x 4’ inside the individual wrapper

Type Of Product Disposable urination funnels for women and children

Weight 1oz

Other It took some practice to learn how to use them, especially when wearing multiple layers of clothing or outerwear. It was worth the effort in exchange for the convenience and peace of mind carrying them offered even in remote bush locations. Each individual funnel had simple instructions printed on it for easy access.

Countries Tested : U.S.A. , Botswana , South Africa and Zambia

Date Of Review June 2004

Number Of Days Tested Five weeks

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes