Epinions Recent Reviews for Pirich

Compact and seriously rugged DSLR

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 13:16:26 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Pentax K7 is a brand new approach to a high end Digital SLR camera from Pentax. Gone is the blobby body, and in its place an eager to perform no-nonsense workhorse which is compact, practical, and weather resistant. I predict this camera...

Small Mobile Scope for Beginners

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 21:22:12 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - Compared to their diameter, Maksutov Cassegrain Telescopes (MCTs) offer a long focal length in a short package. Today, some of the nicest telescopes made by anyone, Questars, are Maksutovs. More recently, tubes made in China are being sold as...

Large Flatscreens for All!

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 15:08:03 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - Anyone stopping by the TV department on a regular basis will have noticed the quality, size, and cost numbers for flat screen TVs have rapidly improved in the past two years. As a TV set we had started having problems, it seemed it was time to try...

Small, Practical, and Well Built

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 00:35:44 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The new MacBook Pro 13.3" computer is a pinnacle of squeezing the most performance possible into a small space. That description seems to entirely miss the point of this computer. It is an all-out conquest of making a full function computer...

The Wait for The Practical Flat Screen Ended

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:50:21 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - I have watched as quality, size, and cost numbers for flat screen TVs have rapidly improved in the past two years. Then, as a TV set we had started having problems, it seemed it was time to try something new. The choice was the Sony...

Scrooh- Big on Claims, Small on Delivery

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:27:11 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - Imagine being able to order up high quality observatory photos from your living room. Well, to be honest, I have imagined it, and instead, I still find myself outside with a telescope so I can see the light from far away, myself. However, when I...

An Expedition and an Opportunity Lost

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:17:59 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - I first read Dan Simmons' writing in the strangely fascinating Hyperion books. The Terror seems at first to be a heroic departure for this author by using his story telling abilities to explore the very real loss of a Royal Navy...

Light weight but capable beginner's scope

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:06:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Orion Short Tube 80 mm wide field spotting scope is a unique adaptation of a small Chinese made refractor originally sold in the US by Orion (www.telescope.com). This version has been put together to serve as an astronomical telescope. In the time...

Good High Chair, Even Better as a Barrier

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:10:15 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The All In One Plus High Chair By Safety 1st is a waterproof/ food proof high chair with a springy cantilevered base and a plastic top. The back adjusts, and the chair has a buckling belt to keep children in. While the construction quality is quite...

More scope in less volume or mass than Anything Else

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:35:45 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Celestron C5 is the latest incarnation of Celestron's 5" Schmidt Cassegrain astronomical telescope (SCT). Although it is about the size of a coffee can, it has a 5" aperture and a 1250mm focal length, which if it were a refractor, would mean it...

Classic Double Action Airbrush

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 11:27:48 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Badger 150 airbrush is not only a design which had stood the test of time, but the actual piece of equipment is ready to survive years of service as well. If you are painting small objects and do not want to finish up with obvious brush marks, the...

Little Known National Monument Means a Park to Yourself

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 14:23:27 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - Everyone has heard of Tombstone, Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon as major attractions in Arizona. But when we have gone to visit the Chiricahua National Monument, the universal response from my friends outside Arizona is "Where?!" And I have some...

Serious Power and Good Sound, Even with An iPhone

Sat, 17 May 2008 17:08:18 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - I have been intrigued by possible getting a set of iPod speakers for years, but the uniformly poor output has always stopped me from getting some. The Kicker iK500 powered speakers are less a work-around for the iPod than a stereo needing nothing more...

More Than Three Hours of Training Was Needed to Fix Starbucks

Tue, 6 May 2008 11:16:38 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - When an organization tries to change something, the proof of success is not visible the next day, but more than a month down the road, when it is possible to see if the changes were lasting. The verdict is in on Starbucks' much publicized training to fix...

Low end DSLR, High End Prosumer Camera

Mon, 5 May 2008 00:58:25 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Sony Alpha series Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras had only two models appear in the first year after the takeover of Konica Minolta's camera division and the Maxxum series SLR line. But as of 2008, this has abruptly changed as a large...

Well, It's a Dishwasher

Fri, 2 May 2008 11:24:02 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Frigidaire Stainless Steel Built-in Dishwasher is primarily remarkable for its stainless steel finish. Otherwise, it is a basic modern dishwasher. It isn't particularly loud. It isn't particularly quiet. Its features are limited to a time delay...

Go for That Odd Angle and Impossible Focus and Succeed!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:58:55 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Hoodman Right Angle Viewer (HRAV) is a multipurpose accessory for SLR cameras designed to both move the viewfinder image to a more comfortable viewing angle and magnify it to make focusing easier. Examples of this use include low to the ground...

Better Living Through a Better Refrigerator

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:08:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - Food, it is the essence of culture, and much of our personal identity. Just leave the country for another land an extended period of time and the novelty of the local cuisine will eventually wear off to reveal an underlying need for familiar and...

Military Sunglasses, Frames, and Everyday Life

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:38:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - There is an error in this listing: This product is very much available, and will be for the foreseeable future. The current Military Aviator glasses have been a fixture of modern life since the 1960s, when the sunglasses worn by pilots firmly moved...

Lots of Hype, but Not Really Useful

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:30:10 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Tablet PC was supposed to be a breakthrough in how one would use a small computer by freeing us from the keyboard. The Compaq TC 4400 is actually an advanced third generation of tablet computer, and has a faster processor and 80 GB hard disk, so it...

Up to Date with an Obsolete Serial Cable

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:44:20 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Celestron RS-232 NexStar Serial Cable is one of those peculiar products which make me ask myself, "Isn't there some way I can do without this?" RS-232 is long in the tooth- to the point where it is starting to disappear from computers altogether in...

Decent Wedge, but Not Needed For a Painful Reason

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:12:50 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - After the novelty of having a computer driven scope became more commonplace, the next big question for many has been to try photography. The alt-azimuth setup these mounts have can be used for photographing the moon and planets, since they are nice and...

Refractor Focal Reducer

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:27:29 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The William Optics 0.8 Focal Reducer II is a photographic-only focal reducer for small refractors such as the William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD APO or the A
stronomy
Technologies AT-66ED. This reducer also works with...

The Easiest Way To Get Started With Astrophotography

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:33:50 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The Orion Steady Pix adapter operates from the principle where a small camera can look into a telescope's eyepiece and see the image, a method called Parfocal Photography. This adapter is hardly a new idea, but the explosion in digital photography has...

Someone Stop The Ringing!

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:21:42 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Pirich - The VTech Disney Winnie the Pooh Teach 'n Lights Phone features sturdy construction and manages to give the appearance of a solid learning toy. However, the actuality is it is designed to set the hook in the store, and in practice is really just a noisy...