GADGETS by Gregg Ellman :: January 11, 2021
Monos’ new powered Kiyo UVC Water Bottle ensures people on the go have clean, purified drinking water. According to Monos, the UVC kills up to 99.9 percent of bacteria and other pathogens lurking inside the water. They also hope each Kiyo bottle can eliminate over 100 plastic bottles per year for each user.
The travel-ready bottle is USB-C charged and holds 17 ounces of liquid. Inside is a 400mAh battery, which takes about three hours to charge for 30 days of normal use.
Once it’s charged (indicators red light will turn off) and clean, fill it with water up to the indicator line on the inside of the bottle, put the cap on, and press the power button.
Swipe across the lid of the bottle once for a 60-second quick clean (blue light) or twice for a deeper 3-minute cleaning (green light). When the light goes out, shake the bottle a few times and start drinking.
The bottle’s design is inspired by artisan pottery, with rounded edges, an attractive stone-like texture designed to mimic smooth pebbles in a riverbed.
https://monos.com $85, available in color choices of Blue Hour, Castle Rock, Graphite, Meadow, Salt Spring, and Tuscan Sun
The AirPop was announced last week as the world’s first smart Air Wearable – the Active+ Smart Mask with Halo sensor. It’s built to help wearers get a deeper understanding of their respiratory health with a sensor bridging the gap between outside air and internal respiration.
With the Halo sensor, the mask captures breathing-related data, and with real-time data about air quality and location, the sensor can accurately tell wearers when to replace the mask’s snap-in filter.
The Halo sensor is powered by a coin-cell battery, which should last up to six months. Once powered, it works in tandem with the AirPop app (Android or iOS) through Bluetooth to collect the breathing data, which supports sharing data via Apple HealthKit. The captured data includes breathing behavior, breathing cycles, and even the pollutants that the mask has blocked during use.
The AirPop Active+ is washable and built with a 360 degree sealing, medical-grade soft touch membrane. It’s built with a 3D dome structure to keep the filter core off the wearer’s face for improved breathability and comfort.
When the Halo sensor is used in Active Mode, it tracks metrics including breaths per minute, breaths per pace. All this can be seen straight from the Activity tab in the app.
Each of the four supplied AirPop filters has a unique QR code for scanning into the AirPop app, which also ensures a legitimate AirPop filter.
www.airpophealth.com/us $149.99
Champion true wireless earbuds are a typical great earth-friendly product from the House of Marley. They sound great, look great, and are a great value with a budget-friendly price ($69.99), referred to by HOM as an Eco-conscious alternative to traditional earbuds.
Each earbud is crafted with the House of Marley’s iconic bamboo look along with recycled silicone, which results in an earth friendly sound machine. Even the included braided charging cord is made of 99 percent post-consumer recyclable polyester.
Battery life is a critical aspect of the true wireless world and the Bluetooth 5.0 Champions act like as leader with 8 hours of playtime between charges and 28 hours total playtime with the portable charging case. The case also has the House of Marley look with a touch of bamboo on the top.
Aside from the great looks and internal features, the Champion’s main goal is to put great sound in your ears, which they do. With all types of music and talk radio sound in my ears over the past week, each came in clear with no distortion at any volume. The bass level was good, just enough to hear it but not bang your head off.
Single-button tap controls on the earbud are responsible for music selection, pause, answer calls, and access voice assistants. The champions have an IPX4 rating for sweat and water-resistant, making them perfect for active lifestyle workouts, or just sitting poolside and tuning out the world.
Built-in microphones along with the earbuds 6 mm drivers worked great for hands-free calls. The pocket-sized USB-C charging case has quick charge technology for 2 hours of play from 15 minutes of charging. Each earbud has a 60mAh internal battery and the charging case is 500mAh.
~Gregg Ellman (@greggellman)