Bugani M83 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

 As I mentioned in my Monster Adventurer Max post a week or so ago is that two of my favorite things are music and technology. When those two things come together, it's like red beans a rice, salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, etc. So, when I got the opportunity to review that speaker, I jumped on it.

Here, a week later, I had the opportunity to review another one, this time from a company I hadn't ever heard of before. For some, this might not be a positive, but for me, it's excellent because I like being pleasantly surprised when I discover something. Along came Bugani.

I was sent a sample of the M83 portable bluetooth speaker by Bugani for me to take a listen to. Hot on the heels of the review of the Monster, I had a huge bias coming into the review, to be honest. This speaker really didn't disappoint.

It has more of an industrial, or retro sci-fi look about it, and that's not a bad thing. I love retro sci-fi. It has a nice smooth finish that's a bit hard to describe. It's soft and smooth, yet yielding, like a hard foam rubber. It's waterproof, so that makes sense. It's light. The Amazon website says that it weighs just over 7lbs, which I would argue. I think that weight is likely the product and the box, which I am comparing to the Monster, which is quite heavy. 

The specs say that this unit can give you a 40 hour playback time at 50% volume. That's hard to believe, although I havent' tested that part yet. As light as it is, it can't have a huge battery bank inside. It also says that it's 50 watts, which I would think would kill a small battery pack much faster than that. Further testing is required.

One of the main things I don't like about it are the locations of the controls. They're on the side of the unit, making them hard to get to without picking the unit up. If you're sitting on the beach, the last thing you want to do is have to pick up your radio to turn the volume up or down. It would have made more sense to me to put them on the top, which is where most of the other speakers I've looked at locate theirs. A minor thing I don't like about it is the overall volume level. I wish it were louder. Realistically, though, since my tests were done indoors and were just basic initial impression tests, I can't say if it really isn't loud enough yet. I'll do some further tests and see how I feel afterward.

The things I like about it are the overall look, the weight, the texture, and the fact that it uses microUSB instead of USB-C. I didn't have a USB-C charger to charge my other speaker, so this was nice to see. I also like that it has a microSD card slot so that you don't have to use the bluetooth connection at all when out at the beach, camping, etc. You don't have to worry about pairing your phone to it, making it a standalone player.

The things I like best about this unit are the cost, $60 on Amazon, and the sound quality. For the price, this thing sounds superb. It's not super loud, but even at 100% volume, it's crystal clear with no distortion. The bass response is actually quite good for a portable speaker this small. If I were in the market for a decently-priced waterproof portable speaker, I would definitely give this a look. Like I said, when I find a company that I've never heard of and learn that they make a really high quality product for a good price, it totally makes my day!

Get one yourself here at Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/BUGANI-Bluetooth-Portable-Speakers-Gatherings/dp/B08D6791WY?th=1

Monster Adventurer Max Portable Bluetooth Speaker

A couple of things I really like are technology and music. The two sort of go hand-in-hand if you think about it. Reel-to-reel, 8-track, Cassette, CD, MP3, it's all based in technology, although the first couple of those are quite dated. Any form of audio preservation requires technology, which is continually evolving. The latest craze, aside from your cell phone and a pair of headphones or earbuds is the portable bluetooth speaker. I built a 'monster' portable speaker a few years ago out of a massive steel ammo can, but alas, it's gone. So, when I was contacted by Monster (yes, THE Monster) to do a review of their offering, I jumped at the change.

A bit of history. I'm old. Really old. I grew up in the 80's, and booming sound systems were what all the guys had, or wanted in their cars - the louder and bassier (if that's a word), the better. Anyone who built sound systems for their cars wanted Monster cables for their builds. They were considered the best in the world, for those who could afford them. I was dirt-poor, so I went to Radio Shack (yes, there was a place called that) and got the cheap cables, but the brand-recognition never went away.

Anyway, when I saw that Monster had this speaker, The Adventurer Max, and wanted me to review it, I tripped all over myself to get one. The brand name implied to me that it was going to be good quality, and it did not disappoint, not to spoil the review.

The speaker is roughly 15" across, so this isn't something the ladies are going to just toss in their purse and carry around with them. This is more aimed at heading to the beach, sitting out on the deck, or taking out on a boat. It's big. And pretty heavy, weighing in at around 7lbs.

It has a really nice look to it, and a comfortable handle, for those long walks from the parking lot to your little patch of sand at the beach. It also comes with a carrying strap, which attaches to a pair of gold pins in the handle. I would have liked a bit thicker or more padded strap, but I'm not too fussed.

The top controls are simple. Power on/off, Bluetooth connect, volume down, play/pause, and volume up, and when I say volume up, I mean WAY up. This speaker boasts 60 watts of power, and a huge 24 hour playback time, so it can get quite loud.

The back panel has a sealed IPX7 water-resistant cover, behind which are the USB-C charging port, a 3.5mm AUX port, a microphone port (to connect the included microphone), a USB port for using USB flash drives containing music files, and a micro-SD card, also for playing music files.

Of course, with anything that says blah, blah, blah, speaker, the proof is in the pudding, Pudding being the sound quality. As a playback test, I put through it some good heavy rock, some rock ballads, some John Mayer (whatever genre that is), and some classical. It played all of them very well. There was a fairly good bass response, which is something I always look for (remember my 80's bass-head history, after all). Bass is something I always seem to want more of, and could have used a little more from this, but for something that is going to be outside most of its life, you're going to lose the bass if you walk a few feet away from it anyway, simply due to physics. It's the mids that fall off next, then the highs, the further away from the speaker you get. The highs and mids, by the way, were all crystal clear. 

The unit came with everything I would have wanted, with 2 minor exceptions. For one, I hate it when you buy a product and it comes with a charging cable, but no wall wart (the charger that plugs into the wall). This one lists 5v 2A, which is 5volts (standard USB charger output), with 2 Amps. 2 Amps is a little high, so you'll spend a few dollars more for a charger that puts out 2 Amps. Cheap chargers usually put out 1 Amp, sometimes even less.

The other thing I would have liked to have seen on this is a removable panel for replacing the battery pack when it stops holding a charge, which it invariably will. Most electronics these days use a standard 18650 lithium ion cell, which looks a bit like an oversized AA battery. These are very common, and are potentially user-replaceable. This is one reason I have still stayed away from cordless tools, with the exception of a cordless drill/screwdriver. I do have Popeye forearms, but if I'm putting in a lot of screws, I'm using a cordless. It always seems that any time I've owned a cordless tool, I get 1-2 years out of the battery pack before it has to be replaced, and for something that costs as much as this speaker, oh yeah, it's pricey, I hope to get more years out of it than that. When the warranty is expired, I might crack it open to see what's inside, and see if I can replace the batteries without having to buy a whole new one. 

Other than those two minor things, I absolutely LOVE this speaker. Because of the cost, if Monster hadn't provided me with a sample unit for review, I would likely never have gotten a chance to hear one, and my life would have been poorer because of it. :)

This speaker is available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095YCX27F

My unboxing and initial thoughts video is available here.

Redlight Supplements RedlightFit 8 Week Tabata Fitness Program Review

It's been a while since I posted anything here, so I'll have to post an overall update after this. My apologies for that. Additional apologies for the length of this post, as I want to do the product justice.

I was given the opportunity to review a fitness program Redlight Supplements has under their RedlightFit brand. This program is a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) style program called Tabata, which is named for its inventor, Dr. Izumi Tabata. He was trying to find a way to boost performance of Japanese Olympic athletes back in the 90's, and he came up with a system by which the athlete did alternating sets of super-high intensity work, followed by a rest period. Rinse and repeat.

HIIT has been a thing for several decades, but was heavily studied academically starting in the 80's when better testing methodologies came available in fitness labs. These scientists were then able to find what levels of intensity and duration gave the best results, and specifically and more importantly, what those results were. More on that later. Now onto the program. Note: When I was asked to review this program, I was super-excited, as I do a home-grown HIIT program myself at home. Then, I was hit by Covid. That said, this review is from the armchair perspective, as I'm still fighting the lingering effects of the virus.

As I mentioned, the program is built on the Tabata method of HIIT. You will need some weights. If you have dumbbells, great. If you're a beginner and don't, use what you have. Soup cans are great in a pinch. 

The program website's layout was a bit odd. Since I wasn't actually going to work out due to illness, I went in basically pretending I was going to. I went to the program hub, and the bonuses (more on those later) were listed at the top, followed by the workouts. I didn't see the tracking sheets or calendars anywhere. I would have assumed those would be the first things you'd see, so you can plan your workouts before you actually go to start. I am a research nut, afterall.

Anyway, I clicked on the first one, Lower Tabata, and found links to the Lower Tabata workout video, workout instructions, the 8-week calendar, tracking sheets, and some coach notes. I went into the instructions and found just the instructions for Lower. That's fine, but I'm still wondering what body parts I do in what order, what days, etc. So, I click on the calendar, and there's the detail I wanted. M, T, R (that's thursday), F are workout days. Weekends off. Nice. Anyway, the first 4 weeks you do a single 30'ish minute workout on your workout days. You can modify which days if you need to due to your own schedule, but believe me, you're going to want a break in the middle somewhere. The second 4 weeks, you can simply repeat the first 4, adjusting for your increasing fitness, or you can 'double up', and do two workouts. They have suggested second workouts on the calendar. Take these at your own pace.

The workouts -

These are Lower, Upper, Cardio/Core, Total Tabata, Lower Suped-Up, Upper Suped-Up, Core Suped-Up, and Total Suped-Up. As the names imply, you have a specific focus for each workout, such as lower body. The suped-up versions are harder exercises, longer period of work, or higher weights, if desired. 

The workout videos - 

The quality of the videos is a bit lacking. These aren't your typical Hollywood-style fitness videos that were filmed in some big gym or purpose-built fitness studio somewhere. These look like they were filmed in the instructor, Ro Little's home exercise room. Not that it's a bad thing, per se, but there was some echo in the audio that was sometimes distracting. On the flip-side, a lot of folks might actually like this at-home aspect, making it more down-to-earth than something like Beach Body or P90X - programs that have huge budgets to work with, and world-famous fitness instructors teaching. They also have the price tags to match. These videos have no lead-in, meaning you'd better be ready to go when you click the play button, as Ro is already moving. Again, not that this is bad, it's just atypical of other workout videos I've watched. Sometimes it's nice to have a quick heads-up on what to expect for the workout. Each video is roughly 30 minutes long, and includes your warmup, workout, and cooldown.

The Instruction Sheets - 

The instruction sheets for each workout explain give the time schedule for that workout, and gives instructions on each of the different movements in detail, and also pictures of it.

The Instructor -

Ro Little has a bubbly personality in the videos. She seems like she'd be someone fun to hang out with. It makes her more approachable. Having a single instructor in the videos is both a blessing and a curse. I like to have multiple people at varying levels of fitness in videos I watch, especially for things like pushups, so if you can't do a standard pushup, you can see someone in the video doing an easier version and you can follow them. Anyway, Ro has been through her own fitness journey as you can read about on her website. Stories like this are always good background to have when you yourself are struggling with health and fitness.

Tracking Sheets -

Tracking sheets are a nicety for you to use during or after your working to track how you felt, as well as specifics on weights used, etc. I personally use a small spiral-bound notebook for tracking, as it gives more space to write out lots of details.

The Bonuses -

I was very interested in the bonus materials included with the course. As you can tell by my previous posts, I've been on a low-carb/Keto diet for a long time, and have been into fitness for most of my life. This combination intrigued me. The first one, Top 100 Keto Recipes was right up my alley. I have a number of Keto recipe books, but I'm always on the lookout for additional or different recipes.

The Healthy Food Recipe Videos has some good ideas in it, although many would have to be modified for me to use for low-carb or Keto versions. I like having the videos for these. 

The Six Fitness and Health eBooks bonus is a mix of different topics, including stretching, HIIT, and the Carnivore diet. I'll have to dig more into these to get more of an opinion on them, but I think these are a nice addition.

When I saw the item "The 100 Fitness Videos for Motivation", I wasn't sure what to make if them. After watching a few, I've decided that these aren't really for me. They're just not my style. Your mileage may vary, however. 

Overall Opinion -

The exercises in each grouping are well thought-out. These are exercises that work major groups of muscles, which will give you the greatest return for your time and effort. HIIT has been shown to have a huge impact on the body, causing increased fat oxidation and metabolism, increasing your MaxVO2 (how efficient your body is at utilizing oxygen), increasing resting metabolic rate (burning more calories at rest), etc. That's why I do it multiple times per week. With a 30 minute runtime, you can do your workout after dinner like I do, or in the morning before you start your day. Is this worth the money? Currently, the program is on sale for $7 for lifetime access. That's a steal. I could find that much in my couch cushiouns. The regular price of $297 is a bit steep for me, though. As someone who is pretty well-versed in fitness, I would rather put together my own routine than spend that much. If the 'lifetime access' means being able to access this content forever, that's one thing. If that means that the program might be expanded, updated, or altered down the road and that content would be included as well, then the full price might be worth it.

The bonuses are the (sugar free) icing on the cake, though. You would likely spend $100 just to buy ebooks that contained the recipes and other information alone. That said, if you're wanting to get started with an at home program that includes a lot of good information as bonuses, I say go for it. I personally can't wait to get better so I can run through these videos. You can sign up for the program here or here: 

https://redlightfit.com/funnel/hit-tabata/what-are-tabata-workouts-8-weeks-of-progressive-hit-tabata

I was given a copy of this program for review, but I am not getting paid any affiliate fees if you click these links.