Product Review: iLife V58 RoboVacuum

I've been insterested in robovacuum since I saw the Xiaomi one over a year ago. Told myself will let the technology improve and then get one once it's a bit more mature 😉

So I finally decided to get one and though I've read great reviews about Xiaomi I decided to opt for more budget friendly brand for my first ever robovacuum. I looked up iLife in Lazada and got the V58 on flash sale for a little over Php6,500.

Order arrived in original box, no other packaging needed, I guess. It has the unit, the remote, a cleaning brush, manual, some replacement brush/sweeper and replacement filters. You had to buy a separate water case and mop attachment for the wet mopping feature which costs about Php700+ in Lazada. Not sure if they have a local distributor but replacement kits seems to be available online.

The manual wasn't too helpful. Just had the codes for problems. Flashing orange color is better than continous beeps 😉 I did check online videos at youtube and they helped me a lot in figuring out the model.

Tried it out and it's bit noisy but still a few decibels lower than my vacuum. Suction is good and found bigger pieces of trash inside. It does have the function to clean thw peripheral areas (along the walls) and another button so it won't fall off edges. I did leave my room's door open and one time the V58 got out and fell from my stairs (just 1 step down) so I *think* you gotta press it everytime.

Battery life is good. I have a pretty small home so I ran it in my room about 12sqm for half an hour (no heavy dusting here, just wanted to keep furballs away from under my bed. And then brought it down and ran it for another 40mins to hour in a 40sqm living/dining area.

I gotta say I always think my place is pretty clean but everytime I clean out the V58 the bin is always brimming. So I really appreciate all the sweeping and sucking it does.

Cleaning up the unit is quite easy albeit takes multiple steps. I normally just take out the bin, throw the contents in the trash can, take out the filter and then brushes as much dusts as I can for a minute. I turn the unit upside down, with my trusty screw driver I had to remove the sweeper so I can clean the hairs that got stuck there and there are always a lot, I do this once week at least cos I have long thick hair. Normally I'm done in 10 to 15mins then I use the unit again for the rest of the week. Of course, you need to do this more frequently if you will clean a larger and/or messier area.

I am planning on getting the wet mop feature soon once the Covid19 lockdown lets up. For now, pretty much happy with my robovacuum.

Price: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Accessories: 4/5

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Product Review: Compression Bag

The bulkiest item of clothing we have stored in our closets are the winter/spring jackets. Poufy. Squishy. Heavy.

There are vacuum bags available but when traveling you hafta lug around the pump and make sure your bags don't get any of 'em holes hehehe. So when I found the Kishu bags in IG I immediately stalked the account and read through the customer's reviews posted there.

All it took was a PM through IG and I was able to order, pay and send my details for delivery. It was delivered immediately with the parcel arriving same day. Amazing!

So I tries it first with my kiddo's winter jacket that my aunt and uncle got her from S Korea. I tell you, it's bulkier and heavier than the winter jacket I used at Romania one late November.

You just have to place the item inside the bag. Close the zipper and it would look like any ordinary packing cube. The magic happens when you closed the secondary zipper running around the entirety of the cube which squishes your garments down, making it flatter overall.

My kiddo's jacket ended up a tad thicker than a regular folded bath towel. Not baaaaaad. My jacket still had space. I could squeeze in a few cardigans or shawls there still.

Overall, not a bad investment piece for those looking to compress your clothings items for storage or for travel.

Rating:
Delivery - 10/5 lol
Materials - 5/5
Cost - 5/5
Reuseability - 5/5


Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Product Review: Leather Passport Holder

If you've read my past posts you'd know I favor leather goods and accessories. So when I saw this passport holder from Booths Republic on Facebook I've decided to order one. Mind you, it's a hard choice since I prefer oily pulled leather than brightly colored types but given tgen have an option for a red one, which I like, I decided to try it.

They have 2 types of passport holders, one for 4 pax and can hold up to 8 passports and one foe 2pax which can hold 4 passports. I was iffy with how the passports were arranged on the bigger 4pax one that when it came out a couple of mobths back I really wasn't interested. I felt there's a chance when closing it that the top part would get messed up folded. Anyway, good for me cos the smaller version came out recently.

The holders come in 3 colors - black, blue and red. Names can be embossed inside for free. Embossing on the cover though comes with a fee. Nice touch if you're really into personalizing your things.

So approximately 2 weeks after ordering the items (note I did order other personalized items) I received my passport holder neatly tucked in it's own box.

The leather is soft to the touch. As mentioned, all 4 of our passport fits - 2 for me and 2 for my kiddo. There's are 2 slots foe cards and a pen holder. It also has slota underneath the passport holders for other papers, IDs or documents (you need to fold them though).

I definitely love the red color and the embossed names!

If you're interested, please search Booths Republic on Facebook.

Rating
Delivery: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Quality: 5/5


Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Visiting the National Museum for Natural History

Have you seen some of the very instagram-able photos from the National Museum for Natural History? So did we! Decided one November weekend to bring the little curious girl over to see the spectacle and we weren't disappointed.

Getting there was fairly uncomplicated on a weekend, a trike ride to Marcos hiway, a jeepney ride to the LRT2 station at Santolan and 2 train rides after we alighted at the UN station. Lots of transfer but again, painless. We arrived around 11 am.

The building itself is easy to find even for someone like me who hasn't been to Luneta for a good 15years. Armed with the reviews I read prior to our visit, we came with just a small bag and we arrived prepared to line up with the rest of the crowd, game face and all.

There are 2 lines going in, first you have to get through the metal detector and bag checker. If you came with a bag bigger than a regular bond paper then you go through the second line inside for the baggage counter. We spent a good 15 minutes on the first line which wasn't too bad because we can already feel the air conditioner by then which gave solace to the noontime heat. By the way, there's actually someone at the door guiding the visitors to the baggage area with a laminated bond paper, comparing the size of your bag, best to do the test at home if you want to cut your time lining by half.

You'd be greeted by a cheery and bright atrium with the "tree of life" in the middle also being used as the elevator. It was meant to be used to ferry the visitors at the very top floor and to experience the exhibits floor by floor going down. It was not working at the time we went there to we started at the basement going up.

The exhibits are well curated, seamlessly flowing from one world to the next. Fauna and flora are covered. The biodiversity that can be found in the country. I won't give too much information so you can experience it yourself.

One thing is for sure, having experienced museums and exhibits in other Asian countries and Europe, this is a great start for the Philippines. Kudos to the team who worked on it and more importantly, for making it available to the public for free!

My only wish is that the visitors would care for the place and I hope they understand we deserve this, we deserve a great museum and we need to care and preserve it.

We'd be coming back to visit the other 2 National Museums, the National Museum for Anthropology which sits right across the Natural History museum and the National Museum for Fine Arts. You should too!

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Follow Up Review: EcoBar Shampoo and Conditioner Bar

I've heard the claims that bar soaps can last 80 washes, equivalent to 2 bottles of shampoo.

Well here's my experience:

I started using the EcoBar shampoo (Heal+Detox) and conditioner (yellow) first week of October.

Photo below was taken yesterday, November 29th. The shampoo bar broke down to pieces a week or so ago but I just put all pieces in my palm and I wipe the entire thing to my head of hair. The conditioner bar (middle bar) is only halfway used and can still be used to at least 2 more weeks I think. I added a newly opened shampoo (Thickening) for comparison.

So given I've used the shampoo bar for about 7 to 8 weeks, it's safe to say I was able to get close to 50 washes out of it already. Would it reach 80 washes though? The current sizes of the pieces will probably last a few more days, nothing more. The conditioner bar though is another story and might actually deliver 70 to 80 washes. BTW, I always use the shampoo and the conditioner in tandem so they were used the same number of times.

At any case, I also need to consider my hair. Long and thick. Maybe that's the culprit why my shampoo bar didn't last 80 washes but at this point I am still amazed that it has lasted me almost 2 months, pending a handful of days.

It arrived packed in a brown paper the size of my hand. The amount of materials saved is well worth it.

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Restaurant: Raging Bull Chophouse and Bar

Fine dining at its finest.

Ambiance is great albeit the very low lighting, not good for taking pictures if you're celebrating. Table setting, choices of cutlery and even the chance to choose your own knife makes for a well curated experience.

The choices of steak is great as well as the sauces and salts/spices available. Good list of wine though that I haven't personally tried but my family got a bottle at least. Good options for dessert. I had the wagyu MS3 cooked medium well cos I am sharing with my kiddo, and yes, the little one liked it. Had a side of dirty rice which could be a meal in itself.

We had the chocolate and peanut bar sundae bar and the cheesecake for dessert (just check their full listed dessert names in the menu) and I was so happy to see fresh berries and caramel bars that didn't come from a can or a packet. They gave us a complimentary Candy Floss Pavlova as someone is celebrating at our table which we really appreciated.

It's certainly expensive for a regular Juan but if you're indulging then this is the place to go.

Address:

RAGING BULL CHOPHOUSE & BAR

Level 3 Shangri-La at the Fort, Manila 30th Street corner 5th Avenue, 

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig 1634 Metro Manila

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Product Review: Ni'qua

Anyone who knows me is privy to my love of bags. As I got older I put value on materials more than brands. I would rather have a bag that would last me several years than something that would start to peel, unravel or color bleed after a few months.

My search brought me to leather goods and found a good alternative to the already established brands that are quite expensive - Ni'qua. They have online presence in FB and IG but also have regular pop-ups around Metro Manila, plus they would sometimes open their physical store somewhere in Marikina for blitzes.

You can have your bags personalized - color, texture, lining, straps. They have recently also offered shoes and sandals. You should check out their website for their products.

Ordering and paying for my item was quick and easy with the help of paypal. Delivery took a few days but nothing worrisome. The bag itself is of good quality leather and I have had it for more than a year now and still looks brand new.

Product Quality: 5/5
Price: 5/5
Packaging and Delivery: 5/5

Here's my Manico Medium in Chestnut with personalized name:

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.