Everyday Items' Review

Well, long story short, we got Energizer AA batteries And we got a Panasonic BQ-CC17 charger for recharging these: Where? The AA batteries were bought from Walmart but we also bought the same AA batteries (and the Amazonbasics ones too) from Amazon, but this will be saved for another discussion.  Why? We were checking the different batteries such as Duracell, Ikea's Ladda, Amazonbasics (which we did but again not our first choice), Panasonic Eneloop and EBL. We needed good rechargeable batteries to power a few of our devices, eg LED lamps, Christmas tree, clocks, ...etc as we wanted reliable ones that won't bust our appliances.  Interestingly, most AA batteries come from China (Amazonbasics, Duracell, EBL, Bonai, Energizer) but you may come across those from Japan, which are of better build (better Quality Assurance and stricter checks).  Insights Well, an article reviewed the AA batteries but recommended Amazonbasics, but we preferred the Energizers. Some reviewers ment...

If you like eating rice, you may like this one... This is a Panasonic rice cooker, model SR-CN188 and it produces 10 cups of cooked rice.  Where? We got ours at Costco.ca for $120 (with GST): At the time of writing, this is no longer sold by Costco.ca, presumably as they are introducing new lines (or maybe due to supply issues - chapeau to COVID19, for screwing everybody). You could still get these at Walmart.ca or Bestbuy.ca, at roughly the same price. Why we needed this?  Well, simply for eating rice. In addition, its non-stick binchotan coating would help minimize wasting rice (we cooked inside a stainless steel pot, which was often overcooking and sticking rice at the base - we lost half a cup of cooked rice in this way). And it does cook the rice better and the rice does not end up soggy but just right.  Insights On some websites, this is mistakenly mentioned as having a diamond fluorine coating but it does not. It's just the binchotan coating, which is inferior to a...

Computer cables  For our appliances, we had to switch from 3 pin (UK) to 2 pin US or earthed 3 pin (US): Well, we got them from Walmart.ca and they were on promotion too.  The brand is primecables and you could get them at primecables.ca  but we got them from Walmart as we bundled them with our groceries. Where? As mentioned, these were from Walmart and the delivery was smooth and they had other similar cables from other brands, but we prioritized this brand as it is local, and we like to support local businesses. Why we needed them? Well, we have a PC, monitor, small printer...etc and we were working already as soon as we landed. Plus, we have a kettle that we needed to use.  Insights Actually, there's not much to these cables except they are well made. To be honest, any unbranded cable could do, but with the discounts, these cables were just $1-$2 more expensive and they were Canadian processed (at least quality assured by a Canadian company). The plugs and cable l...

Plug adapters that would connect our UK 3 pin plugs to the 2 pin US equivalent The brand is Krieger Electric. As per the picture, there's 4 adapters and we got them from Amazon.ca . So, we had many appliances that could work with 110V (and 240V) but we needed better adapters to connect to the wall sockets .  Where? These Krieger Plug Adapters 2-in-1 American/Japan, Type B were bought from Amazon.ca as part of the first 2 (everyday) things we bought after landing in Canada. Why we needed them?  We have a PC, routers, kettle, phone chargers, shavers, toothbrush...etc that have 3 pins but we could not use them in Canada.  Any insights? As a fan of German engineering, we looked at these adapters because we thought they should be ok. Moreover, the manufacturer specializes in voltage step up/down inverters and what not and we thought they had a good track record.  And they are small too and easy to pack (the box was no more than 12cm by 12 cm).  They take a variety ...

Drum roll..... And it's my kid's diapers! Yup, you can get those there , and if you do 'subscribe and save', you get an extra 5% off.  But jokes aside, these were the things we first bought, that we really needed: Conair 124AC Hair dryer Where? We got the  Conair 124AC  on Amazon.ca. Why we needed it? Having traveled for 15 hours and landing in Canada, where the voltage used is 110V. This one is a travel size version and is portable (and foldable) We read the reviews and the air flow is strong enough for such a small device Any insights? So far, the build quality is very good and we use it nearly everyday and it dried long and short hair within 3 minutes. We used it in Toronto (a relatively humid environment in the summer) and in Calgary (very dry environment), and its performance is top notch.  It has a turbo speed option which is helpful if you're in a hurry/ There's a voltage selector (good for travelling) but watch out the ink fades away (so, we never to...