House of Marley - Zion In-ear Headphones

Today we are going to take a look at a set of In-ear headphones called the Zion by the House of Marley. If you haven't heard of the House of Marley, definitely take a look at their unique products. The company sponsors the 1Love.org movement and every purchase made will donate a portion to them. The House of Marley uses reggae music as its test by which all of their products are made using bass as the first element they turn their attention to. 

The build quality of these is outstanding. The cord is fabric covered and is very durable and looks to reduce tangling. The plug is a right angle plug but should work with most cases, even ones with narrow and deep cutouts. The 3-button-mic is not an exception to the outstanding build quality. The earbud features FSC certified sapele and maple wood with recyclable aluminum. 

The Zion in-ear headphones are not an exception for their attention to bass. It's no secret that the first thing you notice when you wear these is the bass level. In my testing, the high's are nice, clean & adequate. The mids are a tad bit underwhelming and could use a little bit more. The lows are heavy as expected but hit hard and are very very clean without sounding muddy. The overall sound output is impressive and meshes well for those that like a heavier bass output. In my honest opinion, the sound quality is amazing for a product whose name I had not previously heard of. 

                                     

Overall, I highly recommend these which come with a price tag of $99.99 available on the House of Marley website in 2 colors (Midnight - as shown and also Mist which is more of a grey).

Mophie Powerstation

Up for review today, we have the Powerstation by Mophie. I've reviewed the Juicepack plus iPhone case which was fantastic and this portable battery pack is no exception to Mophie's outstanding products. 

  
The Powerstation product that I'm going to feature is the (PRODUCT) RED version. The Powerstation is simply a portable battery pack boasting 4,000mAh of juice. You will notice that this battery pack is very small and lightweight for its power output. The exterior features a nice soft touch coating with a metal band. There are a series of LED lights that will let you know how much power remains within the battery. On the band, there are 2 ports, one being the port to charge the Powerstation and one being the USB port to charge your device. Other than these 2 ports, on one side, there is a single button that will illuminate the LEDs to let you know how much power remains within the battery and this button also turns the Powerstation on when you have connected your device.

This battery pack can provide up to 2.1A and is capable of switching between 500mAh, 1A and 2.1A charging output levels depending upon the device connected. Like I mentioned above, the Powerstation provides 4,000mAh of juice which is a huge amount for it's slim design. In my testing, I would run my iPhone 4S battery down to 1% then connect it to the Powerstation. I am a heavy iPhone user during work and would use it a lot while connected. I was able to charge my iPhone to 100% and still have 1 of 4 LEDs lit when I disconnected it. It's hard to estimate an exact percentage of battery life remaining but one LED of remaining life on the Powerstation nets quite a bit of charge (roughly 30% on my iPhone under light usage).

I am very impressed with this Powerstation product and I highly recommend it. It sells for $79.95 and is available in black and red. The red version donates 5% of the net profits to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS. 

House of Marley Earth Day Giveaway

In celebration of Earth Week, The House of Marley has kicked off a contest filled with eco-minded tips to encourage fans to get serious about helping Mother Earth.

How the contest works: First, to enter the contest you must be a fan of The House of Marley’s Facebook page. Each day, there will be a clue released with an Earth Day tip. Collect the letter clues in green to solve the riddle on Earth Day, April 22, at 2pm EST on Facebook.

The prize depends on how many collective ‘shares’ this contest gets. The more shares, the better the prizes, so encourage your readers to participate and share for the ultimate prize.

Mophie Powerstation PRO Sneak peak

Mophie just recently launched a brand new product, the Powerstation PRO and I have a couple pictures to share until I get my hands on one for a full review!

Bowers & Wilkins C5 In Ear Headphones

Today we'll be looking at a set of C5 earbuds by Bowers & Wilkins.  B&W is primarily known for their high end home audio equipment but the C5 is their take at the portable headphone market.   

The visual appeal of these earbuds is outstanding.  Upon unboxing them, you can tell they're a high quality and very well built product.  They have some weight to them (20g) due to the tungsten inner casing that is meant to balance the earbud towards your ear so they stay firmly secured.  They also utilize a secure loop which is a loop of plastic coated wire that curls around your inner ear to hold the earbud firmly in place.  The cord has a 3 button controller on it making them work flawlessly with your iPhone and iPod.   

 

In my testing, I had a bit of a hard time getting them to fit perfectly into my ears.  I tried all the tips and tried adjusting the ear loops to no avail.  I had to jam them in and hold them to get a good seal but if I was not pushing on them, they would not remain fully seated.  I've never had an issue with earbuds seating correctly, but it seems like the weight of these contributes to the issue I am having.  They didn't seem very comfortable and after 15-30 minutes of listening, they were uncomfortable to wear and were nagging to the point that I had to take them out.  I can't say that everybody would have similar fitment issues as everybody's ear canals are shaped differently but they did not work very well for me.  

Most importantly, how did they sound?  Well, initially the first thing you'll notice is that they are a little on the bass heavy side (which I personally prefer).  The high's have good musical detail and the midrange performance is great.  Upper bass sounded tight and balanced but lower bass frequencies seemed overwhelming.  

The C5 earbuds by Bowers & Wilkins retail for $179.99 and are available at authorized retailers near you.  

Ballistic Hard Core Series Case

Today I am going to be taking a look at the Hard Core series case by Ballistic.  Ballistic makes all sorts of cases for many different devices that cater to the rugged lifestyle.  They are so confident in their cases that their motto is - everyone will eventually drop their device - they say "Just drop it"! (as long as it's in a Ballistic Case)!

Ballistic offers a few different styles for the iPhone 4 with varying levels of protection and "bulk".  I was really intrigued by the Hard Core series case because I thought it could stand up against the Otterbox Defender.  How does it really compare?  More on this later!

The Ballistic Hard Core (HC) case is composed of 5, yes I said 5 layers of protection including a built in screen protector.  Layer 1 is the screen protector, layers 2 and 3 are polycarbonate, layer 4 is shock absorbent polymer and layer 5 is the optional outer layer of silicone.  The mic and speaker are covered with water resistant mesh and the other buttons are built into the polycarbonate, not the silicone.   

The polycarbonate portion of the case is a 2 piece snap together design that splits into 2 parts.  Once your iPhone is installed, you can (as an option) slip the silicone onto it for that added layer of protection.  The 30 pin dock connector, silent switch and headphone jack have a silicone cover over them.  As mentioned above, the volume buttons and sleep/wake button have built in covers that are made of the harder polycarbonate material.  

The screen protector serves its purpose and lays very flat on the screen unlike the lifeproof case i've reviewed in the past.  It does degrade the screen quality quite a bit but the level of protection it provides for "hard core" users is very appropriate.  The home button is covered with a silicone button that provides great feedback.  The front facing camera and rear camera have cutouts for them with lens covers.  In my camera testing, I was not able to produce any flash issues and the camera's function flawlessly. 

I've had the Otterbox Defender in the past and honestly, I like this one better.  They are selling for the same price and i'm confident in saying this case provides superior protection for the user that is very hard on their device.  The Ballistic Hard Core case has reinforced corners and the slip on silicone layer further reinforces those corners.  This is one mean case and i'm highly recommending this over the Otterbox Defender.  I wish Ballistic products were sold mainstream in big box stores because I know they would put up a fight against Otterbox.  The Hard Core case is available in 5 colors and retails for $49.99 with a swivel belt clip that allows the phone to be clipped screen in or screen out.