Good Concept, Poor Execution
586046
I purchased this backpack in May 2008 prior to a trip to Europe after finishing Grad School.  The pack looked like it was well made and as some of the other reviewers stated, it hid a notebook computer well and didn't scream "steal me".

The first two weeks, I noticed some of the stitching coming undone.  The zippers were difficult to operate by the pull tabs, almost like the zippers would not smoothly zip, I ended up pulling the openings open by the sides to get the zipper to function properly even this is not how I have ever used a zipper before.

After those first two weeks, I tried to use it as a commuter bag while cycling in to work, which is about an hour each way.  That was when things started to really go downhill.  As I tried to put the computer in there, a change of clothes for work, my wallet, keys and a few other things, the usefulness of this pack started to disappear.  Zippers failed to function, at all.  The plastic adjustment clips for the straps broke into pieces.  I tied the straps to the remaining plastic so I could get home.

Overall, it is a good concept but the workmanship and materials are SERIOUSLY lacking.  This pack would be best suited to those who put only a computer and light support items in the pack.  If you intend to use it as a backpack for school or a replacement for a computer bag and a backpack (my hope was to use this so I didn't need to lug a computer bag in addition to my pack for IT work), don't get this pack until Outdoor Products fixes the flaws with this thing.

I am returning this pack and getting a backpack from REI.

Joe.
3320440
While the concept is good, the device's components, build quality and performance leave something to be desired.
Does it do what it claims? Yes, but poorly.
No matter what I tried I could not get the device to indicate a full charge (100% charge indicating light flashing even when wall charged for hours).
2500mAh battery may be sufficient for flip phones, but is simply inadequate for today's smartphones. This would only add about 50% to my Galaxy S3's battery.
When placed in full, mid-summer sunlight, the device seemed to shut itself off (overheating?).
During a week-long camping trip, I was forced to leave my phone in airplane mode and use it sparingly to mostly just take pictures.
IMO, this product would be worth the money if it's solar panels were larger, it's internal battery was at least 50% larger, and the functionality issues were corrected. Ideally this product should be able to Fully recharge a dead phone once a day, and it simply falls short.
As for the lights... they work and are useful, but are insignificant. And who wants to further drain the device's battery using the light, when it already doesn't have enough power to do what I bought it for?
4035428
I really wanted to like this story. The concept is just so good- a fresh take on the zombie genre where zombies retain their intelligence and human characteristics, but they must have meat to live, so it makes survival difficult. Plus there is a group hunting the zombies, making their lives more difficult. The idea of having the story told from the perspective of one of the human zombies is just fantastic.

So why have I awarded only 3 stars?  Well, it's because I could only get about halfway through this book before giving up. There are lots of typos, which I did my best to overlook, but for me the real deal breaker was the improbability of several of the plot points. I will present a few example so,

********SPOILERS BELOW***************

When the characters go on the run from those hunting them, they are told to befriend a coroner or someone who has access to dead bodies. Really, they had already scored by having one of their group members be friends with a coroner, but sure enough after they split up they arrive in a town looking to eat, then find a place to buy meat by using the phonebook and to their delight the butcher they find happens to be brothers with a coroner who can get bodies for them. Its all just a bit too convenient for me.

Soon after that, some group members are reunited after being apart for a few days. One of them describes getting away from the hunters, a group dedicated to hunting these zombies, by running out the front door, across the road and hiding in a neighbors tool shed until dark. Really? The hunters didn't see her cross the road, and they never though to check in any tool shed for the fugitive they were searching for?

And how did she manage to find the other group members? She went to a cell phone store and "paid an employee to tell me your location based off of Susan's phone." Too convenient for me, to the point of it almost being insulting to the reader, trying to pass off such improbabilities as totally normal occurrences.

***********End of Spoilers**************

For me the plot was a 4 or 5 star plot, but was marred by typos, amateurish writing and highly improbable plot points. I will give the book 3 stars because I suspect others may be able to see past these flaws and enjoy the story for what it is. I personally made it to 54% and gave up (and I usually see books through to the end) due to annoyance, so I feel that 3 stars is actually pretty generous.
2862798
This is a good idea but very poorly executed as a design.

The first problem is that center screw (of 3 shown vertically) is in the wrong place.  Unlike a pocket knife which it looks to emulate, the keys have to rotate out from the side opposite the thumb notch, that is to say on the sidenearest to the clip.  If you try to fit them in the other side the screw there keeps the keys from folding inside.

The second are all the spacer hardware.  The metal washers are too small for many keys and will distort, bend, and catch inside your keys.  The rubber grommets are also too soft and stretch around each other if you try to screw it too tight, and inside the keys if you put them directly against them.  There's also a lot of friction between the rubber grommets which makes the keys rotate together instead of individually.  I overcame this problem with a few #8 Nylon washers from my local big box for 50c, but its annoying to have to modify a product after market to make it useful.

2 Stars for a nifty idea that can be made into a workable product, but only 2 stars because it isn't useful out of the box.
4285349
Great concept, terrible execution. App fails to open my door 99 % of the time and even then its only after I force the app to close and reopen.

I don't know how many times Ive gone for a run, come back, tapped the door and nothing. I got this for the convenience of not needing to take a key with me on a run.

Jokes on me...

I spend at least a couple minutes trying to get the door to open. Tap, doesnt open. Open app try to connect and open doesnt find the lock. Force close app, reopen try to connect and it will take no less then a minute to connect, if and I repeat if it does connect. I have given up and used the garage a couple times.

Ive tried recalibrating, doesnt change anything.
401760
I give 1 or 5 stars, nothing in between.
The concept is great, but the execution is not. Specifically the mounting of it to the headrest, as it doesn't mount firmly. I couldn't use the 2 flimsy hooks on the headrest metal rods because they are wider than the rods. It would be nice if those hooks were adjustable. The plastic is cheap and flimsy, one of the strap buckles broke as I was tightening the strap.
101566
Good idea, poor execution.  The list only displays 3-4 items per page.  If I only had 3-4 items to remember, I wouldn't need a list.  I prefer seeing the whole list on one sheet.  Haven't found a way to reduce the font size to get more items on the screen.  The touch-screen keyboard is primitive and drives me nuts.  It's slow to respond and could really use arrow keys to move left/right within the text because it's so easy to tap the wrong letter key, which then requires "target practice" to re-position the cursor, or erasing the whole line.  Not keeping this on my Kindle.
717516
I saw this product on Indigogo as well as on YouTube - The idea is brilliant - A door bell with a camera that lets you interact with the person at your door, and have a one-way video conference over a plethora of devices that begin with the letter 'i' or run that robot operating system with some devices named after celestial objects.  Again, brilliant.

Brilliant in idea.  Not in execution.

Here are the product's failings:
- The instructions are inconsistent.  They state to hold down the main button for 20 seconds to enter setup mode.  My unit blinked red for 2 hours before finally going solid red, which is what's required before the 20-second push.

- There are no settings in the unit to configure at this point besides silent ring.  The photo you can assign the door bell is cute but worthless.  That's dev time that could've been spent elsewhere.

- The camera is NOT wide angle by any stretch of the imagination.  Its adjustability will render it mostly useless in all but the highest of door bells.  In my home, I get a nice view of  half of someone's chest and stomach along with one of the front posts of my home.  I cannot fix this.  I have to tell whomever is at the door to crouch down and look directly into the camera.  This is inexcusable given the fact that wide angle lenses are cheap and readily available, and a product like this will not have a uniform location on every home.  A wide angle lens would mitigate this significantly.  The few millimeters that the camera can be adjusted are trivial and ultimately useless.

- The audio that comes out of the unit (using an iPhone 5s) is low bitrate and played back at a slower pace.  Imagine playing a tape at slow speed, or slowing down an MP3 for you newfangled kids reading these reviews (shakes his cane atcha) - It makes you sound like you're heavily intoxicated while talking to half of whomever's chest is at your door.

- There is often a lengthy delay in getting a ring notification, if you get one at all.  Sometimes, I can hear the door bell but get nothing on my phone.  Sometimes, it just takes 20-30 seconds.  And I'm on LTE on my phone with 50Mbits down/10Mbits up on a business class line in my home, with new 802.11 AC Airport Extremes - I get 4 bars at my front door for both LTE and 802.11n.

- The retention mechanism to keep the doorbell on its plastic mount is laughable.  It's the tiniest, cutest little screw with the tiniest, cutest, most bendable allen wrench ever.  You have to unscrew this little screw out into a little hole in the outer shell to lock it on.  It's like SkyBell included the most unfun minigame ever as an added anti-bonus.

-Support isn't replying to forum responses or youtube videos showing failures.  Guys, user experience is key. When techies are having difficulty with these, once your initial batches are sold, do you think these technical thought leaders will get their mothers one for Christmas?  Certainly, if they hate their mothers.

Ultimately, the SkyBell's raison d'etre is to serve as proof that a product cannot be successful based on marketing and development requirements alone.  Technical quality assurance processes must to be put in place to ensure the product delivers on its promises in a way that enables the technology to get out of a user's way and enhance their lives, not needlessly complicate it with mediocre documentation, poor camera choices, bare-bones software design, and Smurf-sized allen keys.

I have two NEST thermostats as well as a zWave network in my home.  Not to mention 3 Litter Robots.  I love when technology serves me and enhances my life.  This is technology that makes me sad both because of what it promised, and how it ultimately fails to deliver on those promises.

I will likely be returning my unit soon.  If I can find another tiniest little allen key ever, since mine was bent during installation.
2178448
This is an interesting concept with poor execution.  The drawer is made of cheap, flimsy plastic and arrived cracked and missing a piece.  This could be because the box arrived torn up, but the quality of the drawer is lacking.

The height adjustment isn't ideal for couples with 1 short and 1 tall person.  This is because during construction, you have the option to put in a height extender if you are over 5ft 9in.  This is not a part that you can easily change out, and therefore what you set it at during construction is what it remains at.  (there is a height adjustment knob, but it doesn't affect this aspect).

The rest of it is fine, however I would not have purchased it had I been aware of the quality.  I am currently trying to get a replacement drawer for the one that came with it.

I also did not find the seat comfortable.
4134372
I really like the idea of this book, and the quotes found are good (though Steve Jobs most famous one is not there, instead something there is not a quote is there). However, the execution is very very poor, it's like it's not been read through before publishing - I'm pretty sure it hasn't. There are a couple of typos, misplacements of quotes and too many repetitions - With Elon Musk, variations of the exact same quote are written 3 times.

All this to side, the idea of the book is really good, just work on execution!
2814988
The concept is simple:  A docking station that allows you to plug multiple devices into one power outlet to charge them.  There are a lot of great reasons for this.  You can keep your mobile devices in one place (no more, "Where's my phone?" before leaving in the morning) and you don't have to hunt down those USB cables all the time.  I love this idea and was excited to receive this charging station.

Unfortunately, the execution of the concept is not so great.  I have found that devices often do not charge because of a loose connection.  Understand that when I say loose connection I mean that if the station is bumped ever so slightly, that will be enough to cause a loose connection.  This has been more of a hassle than its worth.

I would love to see this product improved so that I could trust it to charge my devices all the time.  Until then, the loose connections make this a no go for me.
4585858
Worked well for about 2 months then some of the zones stopped responding to screen touches.  The fans still work but I can't perform and adjustments.  As long as the fans are still spinning I'll leave it be but I'm not buying another one.  Great concept, poor execution.
4760680
Could be a lot better.  The idea is good but execution is not.  55lb labradoodle has no problem using it so the size is good.  But the pieces separate regularly (I'm about to glue it all together in an effort to fix that) The 'hinge' broke fairly quickly and I had to replace it with zip ties which work fine, but are not particularly attractive.  I definitely would not purchase again.
1481121
Good idea, but poor execution.....kinda cheapie plastic handle that feels and sounds hollow.  No matter how I tried a new set of batteries, the LED lights just wouldn't work.  My reading glasses are 2.5 and this 3X magnifying glass didn't do the trick unless I had my glasses on - kinda negates the purpose.
2007207
This product is a great idea, but poorly executed. Clip to tighten down clamp broke on first push. Ok, maybe just a faulty piece, it happens. But I was able to piece it back together so it still clamps and the clamp itself is just too weak anyway, even if it hadn't broke.

I bought this because I had back surgery and needed something long enough to stretch about 32 inches vertically from my nightstand to sit directly over my face. This is not strong enough to do this. Phone just falls on my face.

If you don't need to stretch it out so far, it will hold your phone in place, but the clamp just seems so cheap and flimsy, I can't imagine this product would last long anyway. If you need a product like this, I recommend trying a different one.
1481240
The concept of this story is brilliant. The first sentence introduces a mystery that drives you to turn pages all story long. The events and backstory--on a macro level--are awesome. One of the most creative concepts I've read and I read a lot.

But the execution of these concepts was sloppy. Characters suddenly swing into rages, standing and yelling at each other. The health and fitness aspects weren't believable (some people run distances too easily and later in the story are winded by less, healing happens too quickly. The social dynamics aren't nuanced--they're pretty stereotyped. And for a long while I wasn't sure I liked the main character.

So it's worth reading, but you'll have to be patient with immature writing. I'm hoping the author got better in the next books.
1069440
Good concept but poor execution. The strap's base plate cracked my camera body (Sony NEX 7, see attachment).  Also, the shoulder pad does not remain in place even during casual wear without motion.

I was contacted by customer service soon after I received the item.  I mentioned the concerns but never got a reply and it's been about 2 months (as of Nov 14, 2015). I also mentioned I would review on Amazon and asked if they had a solution, but as mentioned, no reply.

I like the gear, it's ability to stow as cards and small batteries in the shoulder pad. In addition, the easy access is great when the shoulder pad is not sliding in the way  However, I can't recommend due to the shoulder pad always sliding and the damage to my camera.