In terms of heat retention and the ability to be used as filling, these are the warmest fibers by weight:

• Qiviut [Musk Ox Wool]
• Yak Wool
• Alpaca Wool
• Camel Wool
• Sheep’s Wool

For more details, see my article explaining why these wools are ultrawarm.

After testing duvets filled with Camel, Alpaca, and Merino wool, I found that Camel wool is indeed the warmest inside a comforter.

All of these wools contain no lanolin so they are hypoallergenic and odorless.

They have good moisture “wicking” properties. This means that moisture is absorbed by the fiber. This keeps sweat away from being released to the outside of the duvet.

This is the duvet I found to be the warmest:

The absolute warmest duvet on the market is the Qiviut duvet:

Alpaca Duvet

This Alpaca duvet I have tested and it is also very warm:

• Ave Maria 400 GSM Alpaca Wool Duvet/Comforter

The post The Warmest Wool Duvets (Qiviut, Alpaca and Camel Wool) appeared first on Reactual.

• For well water or other problematic water, I recommend Big Berkey drip filters. These filters use a combination of ceramic and carbon block filtration. Overall, they are the least expensive type of filters to maintain.
• If you are only interest in a pitcher filter — this BWT filter will remove most contaminants
• If you are able to spend $1500 to $3000, “whole house” filters are the an inexpensive long terms option. These filters are installed at the pipe where the municipal water pipes enters your home. I recommend the whole house filter by Pure Effect.

The Contaminants You Want To Remove

Typically, you want to remove these contaminants from your water:

• Toxic metals (Lead, Mercury, Aluminium, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, etc.)
• Additives (Chlorine, Chloramines, Fluoride)
• Chlorination By-Products (Trihalomethanes or THMs)
• VOCs and other Organic Compounds (Pesticides, Herbicides, Pharmaceuticals, Fuels)
• Bacteria and viruses (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc.)
• Radioactive substances (Radon and Uranium, etc.)

If you use municipal water, you will usually find these contaminants:

• Chlorine
• Chloramines
• Fluoride
• THMs (Trihalomethanes)
• VOCs (volatile organic compounds)

If you use well water, these are the most common contaminants you’ll find:

• Particulate matter (dirt, bits of leaves, etc.)
• Bacteria and viruses
• VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
• Radioactive substances

The Effectiveness Of Different Types Of Water Filters

Pitcher Filters

Pitcher-style filters such as Brita filters are inexpensive units, making them very popular with consumers. However, in the long term, they are actually one of the most expensive option. The filters cartridges require frequent replacement — the cost for 40 gallons is $7-10 each, or $130-$190 for 750 gallons.

Almost all pitcher-style filters use GAC or “granulated activated carbon” as the filtration medium. Typically, GAC is coconut husks that have been heated to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen and then granulated. These filters do remove some chlorine and hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs odor) — but are not effective at removing VOCs, metals, pesticides or fluoride. Overall, they are not very effective water filters.

Faucet Filters

Filters that attach to your kitchen faucet are very similar to Pitcher Filters, but they do filter a little better than the pitcher-style filters. However, they have the same drawbacks — they are expensive to maintain and they do not remove many contaminants. You must replace filters every 100 gallons at $20-$40 each or $140-$180 for 700 gallons.

Colin Ingram, author of the The Drinking Water Book rates all faucet filters no higher than “Acceptable”.

Gravity-Fed Drip Filters

In my opinion, the best water filters are gravity-fed drip water filters. These filters are excellent at removing chlorine, chlorination by-products, fluoride, VOCs, pesticides, particulates and pharmaceuticals. These filters use “candle” type filters, which are widely available and can be customized to your specific filtration needs.

Gravity-fed filters require no electricity to operate — water is filtered as it drips from the upper chamber to the lower chamber. Because the water is filtered slowly, the filtration is much more effective than a faucet-mounted filter. Generally, slow filtration methods tend to be best.

Berkey is best-known drip filter manufacturer. They make good quality filters. You might also consider ProPur filters. Their latest filter, the ProOne G 2.0, will remove fluoride — including hydrofluorosilicic acid (few filters remove this contaminant).

These filters use carbon block filtration, which works by the process of adsorption (different than absorption). In this process, the carbon attracts certain contaminants at the molecular level, and the contaminants become attached to the surface of the carbon. Once the surface of the carbon is full, the filter must be thrown out and replaced. However, the ProPur filters can be periodically scrubbed, and thus reused for years.

These filter are certified to NSF/ANSI standards #42 (test for chlorine, taste, odor and particulates), NSF Standard #53 (tests for Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, VOCs and MTBE) and NSF Standard #61 (tests that toxins aren’t leached into water). They are manufactured in England.

Berkey filter are available from Amazon for about $300.

Overall Rating: Excellent

Reverse Osmosis Filters

Reverse Osmosis filters use a membrane which removes many contaminants from water. They are usually paired with a Granulated Activated Charcoal filter to remove chlorine. Most reverse osmosis filters are installed under the sink and have a holding tank. The semipermeable membrane separates many contaminates (which usually have a larger particle size that water) from the water and rejects a large amount of water in the process. The result is a waste of several gallons of water for every gallon filtered and many naturally occurring minerals (including calcium and magnesium) are also removed from the water.

However, they are quite effective filters, in terms of removing contaminants. However, they do not reduce VOCs or pesticides (unless a Carbon Block filter is included). They can take up to an hour to filter one gallon of water and the filters need to be replaced regularly.

If you want to go this route, I recommend the iSpring Reverse Osmosis System, which is quite reliable.

Overall Rating: Very Good

Countertop Distillers

Countertop distillers are effective water purifiers, but they take some time to distill water (for example 5 hours to distill 1 gallon). They also require electricity to run, and they give off some heat and the integrated fans make some noise. Also, most distillers do not remove VOCs (like benzene) because they have a lower boiling point that water. So they will vaporize together with the stream, resulting in a contaminated distillate.

Countertop distiller that get a rating of “Excellent” from Colin Ingram in the The Drinking Water Book are: Megahome Countertop Distiller, Waterwise 4000 and Waterwise 8800, Kenmore 34480 and Pure Water Mini-Classic.

Megahome Countertop Water Distiller

This distiller is sold under many brand names — it’s the most widely distributed distiller in the world. It has many quality components despite being inexpensive. It produces 1 gallon of water in 5 hours. The water is passed through a small granular carbon filter. There’s a sealed connections from the distiller to the water collection container, so there is minimal risk of contamination by air. The unit has a stainless steel boiling chamber that is easily accessible for cleaning.

The Megahome Countertop Distiller is available from Amazon for about $150.

Waterwise 4000 Countertop Distiller

This is a more powerful version of the distiller listed above. It has the same features but produces 1 gallon of distilled water in 4 hours. Also received an “Excellent” rating from Colin Ingram in the The Drinking Water Book.

The Waterwise 4000 is available from Amazon for about $320.

Overall Rating: Excellent

The post The Best Water Filters appeared first on Reactual.

The softest merino shirt I’ve tried is the Outlier Ultrafine T-Shirt. The fiber used in this shirt feels almost buttery to the touch. It has a excellent drape too, due to the use of 17.5 micro merino fibers.

Merino has the ability to draw moisture into the very core of the fiber. This pulls moisture away from your skin. It also allows the fabric to keep breathing if it gets wet. As the temperature cools the natural crimps in the fabric insulate you.

Outlier constructs their shirts in Brooklyn, using merino from New Zealand. The company says this about the wool:

We use a Mackenzie 17.5, 195gsm Merino Jersey who’s name stems from the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand’s South Island, where the bulk (but not all) of the merino used is sourced. It’s all non-mulesed, farm traceable and certified by AsureQuality. More importantly though the merino is a tight spectrum, low variance, top capped fiber blend. Generally merino micron numbers are generated by averaging a mix of various micron fibers. This means a standard 17.5 micron fabric will actually include much larger fibers in the mix. The Mackenzie blend is tight spectrum and low variance to create a more consistent and precise yarn. More importantly the Mackenzie 17.5 is top capped at 17.5 microns, there are no larger fibers making it a softer and smoother fabric, and in fact the yarns and fabric actually average a number lower than 17.5 micron.

Link: Outlier Ultrafine T-Shirt ($95)

The post The Softest Merino T-Shirt: Outlier Ultrafine appeared first on Reactual.

The Details

A cordless vacuum is a useful and convenient device — if it is designed correctly. In the past I’ve had experience with small cordless vacuums that I used to clean my car. However, these cheap devices all seemed to suck — because they didn’t suck.

I read some reviews on the latest cordless vacuum offerings, and several reviewer recommended the cord-free Dyson vacuums. I went ahead and bought a Dyson V6 Motor Head for testing purposes. I used this vacuum in my home for about nine months.

I really wanted to like the Dyson Motor Head there were several problems with it:

• It was really difficult to remove the dust canister from the vacuum, and even more difficult to put it back on
• The vacuum was too noisy– I ended up wearing some protective ear muffs while vacuuming
• The vacuum would often turn off, due to dust getting jammed in the intake valve
• The vacuum’s battery life was adequate, but could have been better

Basically, I started looking for a new cordless vacuum, because I was done with this offering from Dyson. However, I couldn’t find any good substitutes. Then I noticed that Dyson had released a newer version of their vacuum — the Dyson V8 Absolute. This vacuum seem to address all the problems I had encountered with Dyson Motorhead:

• They fixed the emptying mechanism — the Dyson Absolute only requires a single press of a button to open the vacuum canister and empty the dust inside
• The vacuum makes much less noise, even on “turbo mode” — there’s no need for protective head gear now!
• The vacuum doesn’t turn off randomly due to dust clogging — it only seems to turn off when it’s actually full of dust
• The battery life is much improved — I can easily vacuum all the floors in my house without needing a recharge

With all these improvements, Dyson has now created a cordless vacuum worthy or their brand.

I’ve come to enjoy vacuuming now — having a cordless device really does make this chore easier. I’m also more inclined to grab the vacuum more often since it’s so convenient. I just wish Dyson had got it right the first time!

You can buy the Dyson V8 Absolute Cord-Free Vacuum on Amazon for about $550.

The post The Best Cordless Vacuum appeared first on Reactual.

A soundbar is a thin bar with multiple drivers. They point the speakers directly at your couch, with different tweeters and woofers replicating highs and lows. Newer soundbars include wireless connectivity options, making them hassle free compared to a full surround sound system. No soundbar will ever compete with the fidelity of traditional speakers, the drivers are just not large enough, but they can fill a small room with lush noise. These are the best soundbars available right now.

Best Overall Soundbar of 2016: Samsung HW-K950

The Samsung HW-K950 is the biggest leap forward in soundbar technology of the year. Released in summer 2016, the soundbar boasts Dolby Atmos, 4k/HDR, and 5.1.4 channel surround sound. One big drawback: it does not offer DTS-HD. So if you want the best possible sound quality out of a soundbar and don’t plan on playing Blu-rays on an older player, this is the soundbar for you.

Most soundbars simply can’t replicate the immersive multi-directional sound of a proper home theater system. Samsung shortens the gap with one of two soundbars released this year that features Dolby Atmos (the other is the Yamaha YSP-5600, which has DTS:X support but suffers from poor design). For those who don’t know, Dolby Atmos is an audio format designed to deliver three-dimensional sound. It’s what makes makes you think a helicopter is actually whirling overhead, or what clues you in to the sound of footsteps approaching from a distance.

The HW-K950 delivers Atmos sound from 15 built-in speakers. Most of those drivers come from the main soundbar itself, a minimalist 47 inch unit with metal grills and brushed metal dim plates. It has 3 forward firing channels, with twin mid-range drivers and a wide-range tweeter engineered just for the soundbar. Atop the wide bar are two upward firing full-range drivers that provide front overhead effects.  The rest of the sound comes from two wireless rear speakers with front and upward firing speakers and a wireless 160W sub-woofer. All drivers come with their own amplifier.

The sound is extremely crisp and expansive on Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 5.1 compatible files. It is extremely clean and captures everything from dialogue to bass-heavy music in a way you thought a soundbar could not. The set up is easy and, unlike many previous-generation high end soundbars, it comes with 2 HDMI plugs. So unlike the popular SONOS soundbar, your audio isn’t rerouted through a optical port.

There are two big drawbacks to this soundbar. The first is the price. It’s an expensive package, but it includes the sub-woofer and rear speakers. You can definitely find better quality used home theater equipment for the same price range, but you lose all the convenience and connectivity the soundbar offers. So it depends on your needs. If you’re building a home theater, look elsewhere. If you want three-dimensional Dolby Atmos sound in your apartment without a receiver and a bunch of speakers, this wireless setup can’t be beat.

The main drawback, and this is a huge one, is that it does not support DTS-HD Master Audio, the most common format for many Blu-Ray movies. Newer Blu-Ray players do support Atmos, so you will have to check your player.

Best Value Soundbar: Vizio SB3851-C0

If you don’t want to spend a grand on a soundbar but still want a powerful upgrade from your TV speakers, check out Vizio’s SB3851-C0. For less than $300 you get 5.1 sound with a wireless sub-woofer and 2 rear satellite speakers.

This model captures engrossing Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, faithfully replicating highs and lows. The 6″ driver on the sub delivers a serviceable bass, definitely the best you will experience at this price range. It has an impress 100dB sound with less than 1% total harmonic distortion. Connect music directly with a Bluetooth. The setup is easy, and the 38 inch aluminum accented soundbar looks nice in the living room.

Unfortunately the unit lacks an HDMI connection. It also lacks EQ options to satisfy an audiophile.

The post The Best Soundbars of 2016 appeared first on Reactual.

The Details

3D printing has been around since the 1980’s, but the prohibitive price and size of most units kept them out of consumer hands. Over the past decade, 3D printer manufacturers have made a concentrated push to get the devices into consumer hands. Predictably, a flood of cheaply produced models that deliver low quality prints hit the market. These lower-end models aren’t capable of much more than churning out the odd novelty. Luckily, a few professional grade desktop 3D printers are now available at a fraction of the cost of larger industrial units. I’ve detailed the two best to come out in 2016.

Best Overall Desktop 3D Printer: Formlabs Form 2

Formlabs got its start at MIT back in 2011. Since then they’ve graduated to become one of the most innovative companies in the 3D industry. In 2014 they released the Form 1+ SLA Printer. It delivered professional-level printing at a price that small businesses and private consumers could actually afford. This year Formlabs improved on the success of their first effort with the release of the Form 2 3D Stereo Lithography printer.

Stereo lithography differs from most desktop 3D printers, which use ABS or PLA thermoplastics fed from a spool into a heated nozzle then set to cool. Stereo lithography employs a laser to harden resin distributed from a vat. It builds up one layer at a time and solidifies the resin on contact with the laser. 

The process is much slower than using the filament spools. It takes the Form 2 12 seconds per layer, which means you might have to wait 20 hours for your product to finish. But the longer time is well worth the wait, especially if you are producing detailed medical equipment. Once your project is done, it needs to be finished in alcohol. Formlabs included an isopropyl alcohol finishing kit with the printer, but be warned that the finishing process should take place in a well ventilated area.

Let’s get into the details. The Form 2 can print 5.7 x 5.7 x 6.9 inches. That’s larger than most desktop printers, but still smaller than industrial competitors. But the real draw is the 25 micron layer thickness, 4x more fine than the latest Makerbot replica. The detail is precise and stunning.

This time around the resin and print area are removable. Each resin tank goes through about 2L of printing before they have to be replaced. The process is simple, and you can switch between types of resin with ease. Each cartridge is quite pricey compared to ABS and PLA- between $150 and $300.

Another big upgrade is a level sensor that guarantees you are printing on a level surface. To level the printer, you have to manually adjust four leveling legs underneath. It also comes with a leveling tool to help in this process. The Form 2 has a touchscreen, and supports Wi-Fi and USB, setting it apart from most desktop 3D printers. Formlabs continues to release firmware and software upgrades to improve the process.

So is the extra money worth the price? Depends on your needs. Professional artists, architects, and doctors benefit the most from the added precision. If you are a hobbyist or new to 3D printing, you can probably stick to ABS for now.

Best Filament Printer: Lulzbot TAZ 6

Colorado-based AlephObjects delivers quality 3D printing with an opensource ethos in the TAZ 6, the latest gen model of  its flagship printer line. The TAZ 6 is a rugged fused filament fabrication 3D printer that looks and operates like something you’d see in an engineer’s warehouse. It doesn’t have the futuristic aesthetic of other consumer-oriented 3D printers. This is a printer that is built with quality parts and the clear intention to last. And it’s all the better for it.

The TAZ 6 printer focuses on reliability and quality over speed. This is a large unit with a 12 inch bed that prints objects up to 250 mm tall. The frame is a combination of aluminum with metal brackets and plastic parts parts printed at AlephObject’s massive print farm. The Z-axis is a giant spindle, while the X and Y axis use 2mm pitch belts. The TAZ 6 uses 3mm filament which comes out of hexagonal hot end on a 0.5mm nozzle. It has an LCD screen and SD card reader hooked up to the company’s RAMBo motherboard. The power supply and computer are cooled off by fans, and every wire is crimped and grounded. These extra touches show that AlephObjects care about the electronic components on this unit and have put in the effort to make them

One of the best features is that the TAZ 6 comes nearly ready to use right out of the box. Just fasten the extruder on with a single screw and then attach the surface and you are up and running within 15 minutes. Another plus is the auto-leveling feature which uses the washers at the four corners of the to establish a level surface before each and every print. It also has a reliable auto-cleaning feature that cleans the print head after every use.

The weakest part of the TAZ 6 is the glass bed, which has heated silicone underneath. The heat tends to dissipate away from the center, making it harder to pry the finished product off if its near the edges and achieve a smooth bottom. Other than that the prints are very high quality for a FFF 3D printer, and you can decide between “fast” “strong” and “high detail” profiles.

Finally, AlephObjects prides itself on its opensource policy. The company uses freely licensed designs, specifications, and documentation to make sure your software is never obsolete and you have access to free designs.

The post The Best Consumer Desktop 3D Printers of 2016 appeared first on Reactual.

The V-MODA XS is the most durable portable headphone I’ve found. This headphone is designed to be tough — it has a steel frame and a headband that can be bent flat without breaking. It also features cloth braided cords (for durability), and it complies with 810G U.S. Military Standard tests for extreme temperatures, humidity, salt spray and UV exposure.

The Details

I’m pretty rough with my equipment, and I’m a sound enthusiast, so I’ve had many headphones break on me over the years. It’s almost always the cord that breaks on me. So I went in search of a really tough headphone — and I finally found the V-MODA XS. This portable headphone had a “steelflex” headband that could be twisted at will (as in the photo above). Best of all, it had a cord that V-Moda said “can be bent over 1 million times”. The cord is also detachable, which allows for easy storage inside the case. In can withstand drops too — the headphone is tested to “survive 70+ drops on concrete from 6 feet”.

I should mention that V-MODA XS also has great sound, otherwise I wouldn’t consider it. It’s one of the best sounding sub-$200 headphones I’ve tried.

After a couple years of testing this headphone, it has held up really well. I did actually manage to break these headphones! I accidentally yanked the headphones upwards when the cord was snagged on something, and the sound started to cut out after that. So these headphones are not indestructible. However, V-Moda has a two year warranty on this product, so they sent me a new one (I had to pay for shipping). The company also has something called an “Immortal Warranty”, which covers breakage outside the warranty — they offer a 50% coupon towards the purchase of a comparable headphone model.

The V-MODA XS Headphone is available from Amazon for about $178.

The post V-Moda Headphones Can Withstand Salt Spray, UV Exposure and Extreme Temperatures appeared first on Reactual.

The DeVialet Silver Phantom is the ultimate compact wireless hi-fi system, delivering incredible power with no sacrifice of sonic clarity even at the highest volumes.

The Details

The best to be found in a compact wireless hi-fit system in 2016 is the DeVialet Silver Phantom. DeVialet claims that the Phantom (with the Silver Phantom being the upgraded, even more powerful version) was designed over a period of 10 years, taking 40 engineers, 88 patents, and $30 million to bring to fruition.

The Silver Phantom is spherical (actually, oblong) in shape and white with silver dome drivers. The 26-pound music machine is lovely to the eye. The only control on the unit is a white “Reset” button that’s hard to find (to preserve aesthetic appeal). Everything else is controlled remotely via your Android or iOS device. The Phantom’s heat sink, blended seamlessly into its backside, reminds me of fins on some elegant fish.

The Silver Phantom supports many file formats including AMP3, aptX (which isn’t available on iPhone), AAC, AMP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, and OGG Vorbis. The music machine streams them with all lossless quality kept perfectly intact. For those who prefer wired connections, a flap at the back of the unit lifts to show Ethernet and TOSLINK ports.

DeVialet engineers explain that the Silver Phantom’s structure accommodates the two proprietary “Heart Beat Implosion” aluminum bass drivers (woofers) placed across from each other underneath a pair of thin aluminum domes. The diaphragms of these woofers (which have a 26mm peak-to-peak stroke), just like those of the coaxial midrange and tweeter drivers ensconced at a 90-degree angle to them, are flush with a spherical superstructure. In terms of acoustical physics, their being so situated focuses sound waves toward the Phantom’s center (which is vacuum sealed so as not to fissure or crack due to sonic onslaught).

This concept (which DeVialet calls its  proprietary ACE or “Active Cospherical Engine” loudspeaker technology) is inspired by the work of famed Princeton, NJ acoustical engineer Dr. Harry Ferdinand Olsen of RCA Labs. In experiments he conducted in the 1930s, Olsen concluded beyond the shadow of a doubt that a spherical speaker cabinet is the most efficient, the best at maintaining the fullness of the signal’s original sound quality. The closer that acoustical engineers can come to creating a single point in space out of which music emanates, the closer to “pure lossless” the music is.

The sheer sonic power of the Silver Phantom is quite simply astounding. At maximum volume, it produces 3000 watts of power to generate a jaw-dropping 105dB. Furthermore, as you increase the volume the Phantom’s sound becomes even cleaner. (Any extraneous sounds like humming or clacking that you hear are coming from the surface that the unit’s sitting on or is close by to, or may be the result of a low-quality recording.) Strong bass and outstanding clarity are always there at any volume level, but once you turn it up enough to really let those woofers run wild the audio experience deepens, whether you’re listening to R&B or a symphony orchestra, or even solo classical guitar.

But even at extreme volume, the Phantom never distorts or gets out of phase. The sound is always complex but balanced, one might even say “silky”, with excellent separation between highs and lows.

The Phantom’s components and outer shell are protected from their own heat and energy (and from outside impacts such as drops) with braided sheets of Kevlar acoustic insulation, which at once cool the the circuit boards and keep the unit so strong as to be literally bulletproof. Durability is no issue.

If there’s a flaw with the Silver Phantom, it’s that DOESN’T yield stereo surround sound. You would need multiple Phantoms to achieve that (or a close approximation). DeVialet engineers have made it possible to chain together up to 24 of them. (Oh, and one more flaw: the visually obtrusive, bright-greenish-yellow power cord! Who thought that up, anyway?)

The post The Best Compact Wireless Hi-Fi Speaker System of 2016 appeared first on Reactual.