X-WRIST LT – Laser Therapy Smart Watch

This is the last of the three new smartwatches from x-wrist that I have tried and I think it is by far the best. So it should be, as at £199 it is by some way the most expensive. The first watch I tried, the TBP, had a quirky and rather hard to use external blood pressure monitor, the second, the budget priced X2 was an enhanced and improved version of their earlier x1 health tracker. This one, the LT, is an upmarket and rather stylish smartwatch with a range of health features the most notable of which is the built-in Red Light Laser Health therapy system.

In the mid-range product box was just the watch itself with a prefitted black leather strap, a charging cable and an easy to read but rather basic start-up guide. Mine also came with a separately packaged silicone strap, which may or may not be a standard feature.

Build quality seems excellent and the watch really does have a premium feel to it. The watch feels heavy compared to my Amazfit GTR3 Pro watch and is a little thicker but this goes to reinforce the premium feel and if anything the X-Wrist L2 feels better made and more substantial.

The watch has a bright and clear 1.32” (34mm) LCD screen with two physical buttons. The top button turns the watch off and on and serves as a Home button, the lower jumps straight to the Laser Therapy screen. Between is a sensor pad needed for ECG readings. Swipe up to enter get the notifications screen, down for system shortcuts. Swipe left to scroll through the daily summary and other main app screens, swipe right to get to the app shortcuts.

There are multiple sensors available on this watch, more than with any of the high end and far more costly rivals I have tried. Also, and this is a big plus, all the key sensors (including Blood Pressure. heart rate and Sp02) can be set to monitor 24/7 on a user selectable timed basis. I have mine set to update every 10 minutes. The results can be viewed on the watch or in the app with the watch showing the latest reading together with graphs for earlier readings. The more detailed results can be viewed in the X-wrist smartphone app. I found the watch face health displays to be well designed and easy to read

Setting the watch up is easy enough once you get accustomed to the rather poorly designed X-Wrist app interface. After charging the band with the magnetic charger just follow the instructions in the app settings to pair the watch and phone together. This took just a few seconds and was a far easier process than with some other watches I have tried, including the Amazfit. Despite using the older 4.2 version, I found the Bluetooth link to be both more stable and fast with the watch syncing automatically and quickly as required in the background with an easy to read status confirmation on the X-Wrist app front page.

The x-wrist smartphone app, used by all the x-wrist devices, I found to be very comprehensive but overly detailed, poorly designed and hard to both read and navigate. It has been improved, I think since the first version, but a total revamp is needed. That said, all the data you want can be found if you are prepared to hunt for it. The watch settings can also be made here and they are many and varied including one to set the skin colour of the wearer to improve sensor readings, a feature I have not found elsewhere. The six watch face themes can be selected – it is great pity there are not more – as well as screen brightness, health goals, personal details and the frequency of the 24/7 sensor polling. All the key settings can also be made directly on the watch. A nice feature, which I have not seen elsewhere, is the ability the select the sensitivity range of the Blood Pressure sensor to allow for more accurate readings. The app also promotes an incentive screen for exercise with points and tokens given for achievements that can be redeemed for a range of items and services. Incidentally, the app can be used without the watch by importing health data from Google Fit.

Let’s look at the main monitoring features of the watch. The results can be viewed directly on the watch screen but this is best kept for on-demand readings with long-term results more easily viewed in the app.

Blood Pressure
This works well. I have tested it against my external BP monitor and the results are consistent with it. Like with most of the other sensors results can be taken on demand or on a 24/7 timed basis. The BP monitor can be set to run within one of three ranges and also calibrated to an external blood pressure monitor. It is still not as accurate as I would like but it is better than most other smartwatches I have tried.

Blood Oxygen (Sp02)
Again it works well and I have tested it against a medical-grade finger SP02 monitor.

Breathing Rate
Accurate, so far as I can tell.

Sport Modes
There is a limited range of preset sports activities, which do not include walking, but this can be found on the app. This is a health tracker, not a sports tracker and so I do not view this as being a major issue. At the time of writing the option to initiate a sports activity from the app is not yet working but you can enter sports data retrospectively and start an activity from the watch.

Sleep
Works well but the results are more simple than those from some of the expensive rivals. This is probably better as the results here are far less complicated and much easy to read.

ECG
Keep the finger on the side button until the progress bar completes, which can take some time. It can also be launched from the app. How well does it work? I am not qualified to say but it looks impressive enough.

Laser Healthy Therapy
The USP of this watch is the Red Light Laser Health Therapy. I had never heard of it before but after looking into it really is a thing. Therapy sessions can be quickly and easily set up through the watch with both the intensity of the wrist light and the timing being selectable. Press the lower watch button for the Therapy screen and touch the large on-screen button to begin a session. How well it works, I am not qualified to say but I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the claims for it.

Steps
Seems accurate enough compared to my Amazfit watch.

Distance Despite the lack of GPS integration it seems OK

Notifications
Seems to work for basic one-way notifications.

Other Features
Camera Control – Does not work with my Xiaomi phone
Music Control – Does not work with my phone
Screen On Wrist Flick – Works well with only a small delay.
Display – Bright and clear but with a fast shutoff time that cannot be changed.
Screen Brightness – 4 levels, good and bright, can be set from the app or watch.
Watch Reset – Works OK
Watch Power Off – Yes, this works

This is a health watch rather than a sports watch. There is no GPS, not even connected GPS, the sports options are limited and there is no way to export data to other apps or tracking websites. That said the X2 offers features and options I have never encountered before on rival devices three times the price of this one. This is a work in progress but the developers tell me updates and feature enhancements are on the way.

Despite the few limitations, most of which are software based and can be fixed with future updates, this is an excellent health watch offering features unmatched at this price. Build quality is excellent and the watch has a simple and clean interface, easy to use and with a bright screen visible outside in daylight. The Red Light Laser Therapy is unique to this watch and could give it a way into a niche market.

For the price, this interesting and well-specified watch is a worthwhile buy.

More Info and Purchase – Use code MARCOSCU20 for a 20% discount

PUTORSEN Monitor Stand Riser

This is a rather posh monitor stand riser, made from tempered glass, is elegant, well made and simple. It is can be used as a monitor stand in the office but is attractive and stylish enough to fit in just as well in the living room or bedroom to support the TV, Hifi or whatever you wish.

In the box is just the glass shelf along with the four separately packaged legs. No instructions or paperwork are included or required.

The assembled stand is 3.1 inches high, 15.7 inches across and 9.4 inches deep and can support your monitor, TV, printers or anything else you like up to 20k kilograms in weight.

Assembly took just seconds with no tools needed. The four squat plastic legs just screw in place and can be removed just as easily. Once assembled the stand feels steady as a rock. This is not the sort of stand designed for use on the go, but rather for permanent positioning in the home or office.

The stand looks great and seems tough and robust, but glass is glass and may scratch or break if mistreated. The glass is tempered as well as being quite thick and heavy and I would not expect it to damage easily but accidents do always happen. It might be better suited to the home environment rather than that of a commercial office.

One major selling point has to be the price and at £16.99 it costs no more than the boring and humdrum metal rivals. If you want to add some style to your home office or even your living room then I think this is an excellent buy. For £16.99 I think it is a great buy.

The Good
Robust Build Quality
Stylish Design
Stable Support

The Bad
Self Assembly
Not Suitable For All Environments

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AUSDOM AW651 2K HDR Zoom Certified Webcam

Priced at £55.99 the Zoom certified AUSDOM AW651 is not the cheapest webcam I have seen but it is one of the best I have tried in this price range and compares very favourably with my usual webcam, the £130 Logitech C920 HD Pro.

In the box is the webcam itself, mini-tripod and a simple but informative User Guide. Build quality seems excellent, the camera is well made and robust with nothing looking likely to fail anytime soon and the tripod is of metal construction

The camera has the lens and dual microphones on the front, with a fully adjustable rotating base below. On the underside of the base, which does as a desk stand, is a standard tripod screw mount. The camera has a glass lens with an adjustable field of view of 60~75° free from barrel or rectilinear distortion. The twin microphones are far better than on most webcams in the price range with a clear and unmuffled sound although it did need to be boosted a bit to get the best results. There is a slider switch on top of the camera to set or remove the physical privacy filter and a button on the rear to swap between 2K@30fps and 1080p@60fps resolution. The camera has a hard-wired 2m cable with a standard USB plug. The tripod is made of metal with a black anodised finish with extendable legs and a built-in ball and socket head and seems well made and robust enough for general use.

I plugged the camera into my Mac and it was instantly recognised with no drivers or software needed. The camera app allowed me to configure it, with some reduced resolution options available, but most people will just leave it at the default 2K@30fps (2560 x 1440).

The versatile mount can be used to position the camera securely on the top of the computer monitor, as a self-supporting desktop stand, or using the screw hole to any standard tripod mount. When on the supplied mini-tripod the camera can be rotated through using the camera mount and also rotated fully from side to side and up and down with the ball and socket head.

For me, the main appeal of this camera is the excellent video quality, which is good and sharp and with well-saturated colours, although it does need good light for best results. The lens is less wide than with many rivals which can be a good or bad thing according to your needs. Audio is good too although some boosting needed when editing. I should say that perhaps due to an issue with my M1 Mac, the video switch did not seem to work for me and the only video I could get from it was 1080P@30fps, although that was of pretty decent quality.

If you want a mid-priced, good quality, no-nonsense webcam for Zoom, Skype or other streaming purposes then you would have to go a long way to find a better one than this for the price, which has Red Dot award and IF award winning status. There are cheaper rivals available but I suspect few offer the good quality video of this one.

The Good
Zoom Certified
Great price
Good Build Quality
Plug and Play
Twin Mics
Good Video Quality
Autofocus
HDR
Rotatable Mount

The Bad
Sound Quality Could Be Better
No USB-C
No Face Tracking

More Info and Purchase

VANBAR D700 4K WiFi Wildlife Camera

What is a trail camera? A trail camera is a camera which is designed to operate unattended outdoors and to automatically capture pictures or video of anything that triggers the built-in motion detector. They are mainly used to monitor wildlife activity but could also be used for security purposes.

VANBAR’s new trail cam, currently heavily discounted to £109.99, arrived packed in an attractive mid-market product box inside of which was the camera itself, metal ground/surface mount with screw fittings, retaining tree mount strap, data cable, 32Gb micro-SD card and User Guide. Although the camera itself is made of plastic and is rather lightweight (which is perhaps no drawback) build quality seems excellent. The User Guide is a good size, well printed, easy to read and is genuinely useful (unlike many).

The IP66 water-resistant camera takes eight AA batteries, which means it can be left to operate unattended over extended periods. For best results, I would advise using more expensive but longer lasting Lithium batteries, but normal batteries should last up to six months on standby but far less if extensively used. The batteries are housed in a compartment at the base of the unit. It also has the option to use a 12v/2A external power supply (not supplied).

On the front of the device are the lens, front motion sensor, two side-facing sensors, microphone and the 40 940nm LEDs infrared panel. On the underside are the metal tripod mount and the grommet protected power in port. On the side are two clips to secure the control panel door. The hinged door opens out to give access to the colour LCD monitor, speaker grill and control buttons. Underneath the speaker grill on the base is the micro-SD card slot, micro-USB port, and power turret switch.

Underneath the screen are water resistant control buttons for Menu, Shot, Replay, and OK as well as up, down, right and left screen navigation controls. Although there are plenty of refinements and fine-tuning that can be made, in fact, the camera can be up and running very quickly with the default settings. After inserting the batteries and removing the gels covering the lens, sensors and screen, set the turret slider to the middle position and press the MENU button. From here you can now set the image and video resolutions, video recording lengths and other parameters such as time stamping, time-lapse, audio etc. One particularly useful feature is that you do not have to choose between Video or Stills as you can set it to record both at once. Remember to insert a micro-SD card first and to format it using the camera software before use.

Some trail cams just have a standard motion sensor on the front, but this one sports both front and side sensors. This is useful as wildlife approaching the camera from the side is often missed by front-only sensors due to the delay between the sensor trigger and the camera. At 0.2 seconds the delay on this model is the fastest I have yet tried and has three motion detection sensitivity level options

I was pleased and not a little surprised by the photo and video quality, too often trail cameras fall down here by using cheap hardware to save production costs, but not so here. For the price image quality is excellent for both Video and stills at up to 48MP and gives genuinely high-quality 4K 3840x 2160 video albeit at just 10fps. I think 1080P@30fps gives the best results. I found that in some lighting conditions highlights can burn out so take care to select the right camera position to avoid them. Care must be taken also to avoid false motion sensor alerts – foliage, vehicles, etc – as this will soon flatten the battery. Although the trigger time is fast nevertheless when recording wildlife try and position the camera so the subject approaches the camera and not across it. The side sensors here are a big improvement, but will not capture all cross lens motion. That way the trigger has time to fire and you will see the subject head-on and not get a picture of its rear end as it leaves the frame!

Aside from the enhanced image quality, the other main feature of this trail cam is the use of Wifi and Bluetooth. After downloading the ‘Veneri’ to your phone you can connect your phone to the wifi hotspot generated by the camera which can be selected and configured in the camera settings. From a secure location, you can now monitor real-time video from the camera, configure the settings and manually take stills and video.

The camera is not perfect. 4K video recording is at a stately 10fps, it is a pity there is no easy access battery compartment and that a fiddly micro-SD card has been used – a full sized card is much easier to handle in the field. Finally, as with all trail cams, battery life is greatly reduced unless care is taken with the camera configuration and placement.

That said, this camera can be great fun if you have a big garden and wonder what goes on there when you are away. Both for features and image quality this is perhaps the best trail cam I have ever used and sets the benchmark for others. For the price, this is a fantastic buy.

The Good
4K Video
Fast 0.2-sec Trigger
Great price
Good image quality
Simultaneous stills and video option
Time-Lapse Mode
Wide-angle motion sensors
Excellent User Guide
Audio recording option
IP66 Water/Dustproof

The Bad
Heavy Battery Drain When Used intensively
Fiddly micro-SD Card Used
No Easy Access Battery Compartment

More Info and Purchase

TEMULSIN 61W USB C Mac Book Pro Charger

MacBook chargers are not cheap, the Apple Store 67w type C charger is £59 with the 140w model coming at whopping £99 without a cable, so this 61w type C charger complete with cable from TEMULSIN, seems quite a bargain at just £16,99.

But you get what you pay for.

In the box is the charger itself, a 2M USB-C to USB-C charging cable and a single sheet user guide. The charger comes in two parts featuring a detachable UK three pin plug with no doubt other plug types available. Build quality seems excellent and I cannot say this seems any less well made than the costly Apple rivals.

Yes, it does work. I was able to charge my 2021 M1 MacBook Pro using the device with no apparent issues. The charger will identify the power requirements of your device and output at the appropriate level, we are told. However, my monitoring software told me the Temulsin would take a whopping 142 minutes to fully charge the computer whereas the Apple charger supplied with the MacBook claimed 45 minutes.
That really is all you need to know.

You have to be realistic here and accept the fact that the performance of a £17 device cannot be expected to equal that of one costing £60. If you can learn to live with that then yes, this is not a bad buy. It works, it gets the job done and the cable alone would probably cost around £10 from Apple. I use it for overnight charging and keep my Apple charger for use if I need it during the day or when travelling.

Yes, this will charge your Mac but cheaply not quickly.

Compatible Devices
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2020 (M1) (A2251/ A2289/ A2338…)
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 (A1706/ A1708/ A1989/ A2159…)
MacBook 12-inch 2017, 2016, 2015 (A1534/ A1540/ A1646…)
MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021, 2019(A2166…)
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016 (A1706/ A1707/ A1708/ A1719…)
MacBook Air 13-inch 2020(New), 2019, 2018A and any other type c port laptops.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good Price
Good Charging Cable

The Bad
Slow Charging

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Linkevp Smart Posture Corrector

If you are a stooper as I sometimes am, this may be just what you need to keep you standing upright in a soldierly fashion.

It consists of an adjustable shoulder harness that you wear under your top layer of clothing and which has a rechargeable battery powered sensor that vibrates to alert you when you are stooping or not sitting or standing upright.

Using it is not too hard, although could be better. I found I had to fully extend the straps to get a good fit and although it was lightweight and comfortable to wear, I found it tricky to remove. Although it will fit adults, I suspect it was originally designed for children or for smaller asian adults. The buzzer and vibration alerts work well, too well perhaps, and there is no way to adjust this other than manipulating the straps. What it needs is some sort of sensitivity dial.

Build quality is fine, the sensor/battery pack is slimline and does not feel intrusive, the shoulder harness is comfortable enough although rather on the small side and I had to fully extend mine to get it on. You have to reach between your shoulder blades to turn it on and off, which can be a bit tricky sometimes and difficult to do discreetly but it works and gets the job done.

That is really all there is to it. It does what it claims to do and for the £12.99 price it is probably not a bad buy.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good Price

The Bad
Small Size
No Sensitivity Control
Tricky to Switch On/Off

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OYIB Bluetooth 5. 3 Wireless Earbuds

Featuring the latest Bluetooth 5.3 technology, USB-C charging as well as no less than 4 microphones this has to be one of the most technically advanced true wireless headsets I have tried yet. But is iot any good?

I am not usually a fan of the AirPod style stem design but it usually does make for superior sound quality as well as a more secure fitting and this is the case here too. This new headset is compact in size, both the buds and case, with a glossy black finish that is otherwise similar in design to the many rivals out there.

There was a time when you had to pay plenty to get decent quality True Wireless Earbuds but the introduction of Bluetooth 5.0 seems to have changed all that. Before Bluetooth 5.0 all but the most expensive TW earbuds would continually drop out, crackle, pop and generally prove more trouble than they were worth. As technology develops each headset is better than the last and this new set which features the latest Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and USB-C charging has some of the hardware on board.

In the box were the two buds together with a short USB charging cable, a compact sized glossy black charging case, and a well written and easy to read User Guide. Despite the light weight, everything has a quality feel to it but without the weightiness of some rivals.

First time pairing could not be simpler and took just a few seconds. Simply remove the two buds from the case and pair in the usual way to your phone looking for the label MD058A. Subsequently, taking the buds from the case powers them on, they connect to each other and to the phone automatically, returning them to the case turns them off and begins charging. The Lithium-ion case battery can recharge the buds around 4 times, giving a total of around 25 hours of music. There are displays on both the buds and case bud to show charging and connection status with the buds will charge automatically when placed into the case. These stem format buds are easy to remove from the magnetic case and holding the stem prevents accidental button presses, for me a major selling point.

The earbuds use the latest Bluetooth 5.3 technology which is supported by the latest high-end smartphones but of course, they will also work with older Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth 5 adds a longer range of up to 15m and greatly improves both the stability of the wireless connection and battery life.

The buds are small, neat and comfortable to wear and will deliver up to 5 hours of music per charge. Sound quality is excellent for a TW headset with a very decent level of bass together with clean mid-tones and a sibilance free high end. Calls were clear to hear and easy to make. I found call quality to be fine at each end of the conversation with no dropouts or excessive background noise. Sound quality is enhanced further for calls by the use of twin microphones in each bud.

Each bud has a single soft touch button on it which can be used to end/reject calls, play/pause music, navigate tracks, alter volume and invoke your phone’s voice assistant. This works well and is easy to use. No formal water resistance rating is given but we are told should be fine in the rain but not for swimming.

Charging is good and fast with a full charge for the buds taking just one hour with the same needed to fully charge the case. The case LED display shows the current battery status of both the case and individual buds.

At just £24.99, they are incredibly well priced for the technology available, indeed this headset compares very well with the high-end rivals I have tried as regards sound quality and features. You would need to go a long way to find a better True Wireless Headset for twice the price.

The Good
Lightweight
Comfortable
Good Audio Quality
Good Build Quality
Auto On/Off
Bluetooth 5.3
Magnetic Case
PPX 7 Waterproof

The Bad
No Apt-X Codec

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UTEBIT Camera 323 Quick Release Plate

As you would expect, this quick-release plate fixes to the bottom of your camera and allows you to quickly and easily fit or remove your camera from the tripod or other compatible mount. It is designed for the Manfrotto 200PL-14 and 323 RC2 496RC, 498RC2, 804RC2 but in fact, should work with pretty much any standard fitting tripod out there.

In the box was the baseplate and camera mount with a prefitted 1/4” to 3/8” Screw Adapter. That’s it with no instructions or anything else included or required.

This quick release plate is tough and well made, constructed from aluminium alloy with rubber pads to protect the camera. Unlike with some rivals, there are no built-in spirit levels so you will need to gauge fitting by eye. The base plate screws to the bottom of the camera, and the mount attaches to the tripod screw. There is a single side-mounted thumb handle to release the clamp to fit and remove the camera. There is also a tiny locking handle, which works well enough but can be fiddly and awkward to use, to prevent the camera from coming off accidentally.

I use the quick release plate to fix my camera to the flatbed of my Teleprompter. The flatbed to which it mounts is about four inches wide and some QR plates will not work with it as they will not sit flush on top of it. No problems here and the mount works perfectly.

Once fitted the device works well and has a smooth action and quality feel to it when in use with the feel of a serious piece of photographic equipment. This is an excellent device, that is simple to install and works well and gets the job done. Priced at just £10.99 before discounts this is cheaper than most of the rivals I have tried and works just as well.

This is a simple device, well made and well priced and is worthy to be in the gadget bag of every photographer or videographer.

The Good
Features
Robust Construction
Lockable
Fits Any Size Mount
Great Price

The Bad
Lock Can Be Fiddly To Use

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VWRHar 4K 3-Way HDMI Switcher

This is a simple little device that does some complicated things. Priced at just £8.99 it will allow one TV or monitor to be used with up to three HDMI devices and will support 4K video at 30 fps and Dolby audio in various formats. It will switch automatically between devices when one is switched off or can be switched manually using the buttons on the front.

Build quality seems fine for such a simple and low priced unit and I was pleased to see that the power in port is an up to date USB-C, a sign that this is not just a rebadged older model.

It could not be simpler to use. once everything is connected up just switching a source device on should switch automatically to that device, although there are some particular source devices that may not support this function in which case the button on the front of the switcher can be used. There iare LEDs on the front to confirm which is the current active source device.

The switcher will support 4k source devices up to 3840x2160p@30Hz and various types of compressed audio including LPCM7.1, Dolby-AC3, DTS-HD, DSD, Dolby-TrueHD, DTS-HDl.

A user guide is included but most users will not need it, this is a true plug ‘n play device and should work straight from the box with almost any commonly found video or audio devices. If it supports HDMI then it should work with this

There are more expensive rivals available that look better and offer remote control, but if all you want is a basic plug and forget switcher then you will have to go a long way to find a better one than this for the price.

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OYU Clip On Desk Lamp

Priced at £29.97 this is not the cheapest clip-on lamp out there but it offers a focused light with a narrower light spread than from any other I have tried and this together with a near to premium build quality makes it worth the difference.

The lamp arrived simply packaged in a rather low-end branded cardboard cox containing the lamp, detachable UK three-pin power supply and a large, easy to read but rather unnecessary user guide.

The lamp consists of a padded metal crocodile clamp with a maximum spread of 10.9 cm with above it the fully rotating 40cm metal gooseneck with above that the 7 cm light head. Unlike the many rivals, this one does not have a flat light panel but instead a smaller and more focused torch-like head. This means the light from this unit is much less diffused and can be targeted at a specific area on your desk or work surface. This means. for example, you can use it as a bedroom reading light without disturbing your partner or work at your desk without annoying others viewing the TV in the same room.

The light has two controls. One is an in-line master power switch, the other a touch control on the base of the gooseneck used to select one of three brightness levels and to turn the main light off leaving the subtle red quick-find LED still on. The LED is very handy to locate the touch switch at night. Turning the in-line switch on powers the lamp and turns the quick find LED on without a switch on the main light, a clever design feature.

The light output at a maximum of 650LM is surprisingly bright but can be dimmed down and this together with the warm white light makes it perfect for bedtime use or study.

The lamp is well made from steel and aluminium alloy, is cleverly designed and if you need a work or reading light you can use without disturbing others this would be a great buy.

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