So I bought a Casio WS1600H anyway
Yeah, I have some explaining to do.
I said flat out that I wasn't going to buy this. The annoyances I listed were all legitimate and I was certain that nope, wouldn't get it.
But then the price dropped for a WS1600H quite a bit. I thought about it, and said eh... okay, let's give it a try.
I was certain that I'd wear the watch for a day and return it. Surprisingly, I didn't, it's still on my wrist now, and I'll most likely keep it.
This thing is complicated but the dial makes up for it
All of the complicated stuff has to do with the stopwatch and countdown timers. You're not going to get W218H simplicity out of the WS1600H. Not happening.
The actions of starting, stopping and resetting the stopwatch are weird. Then when it comes to the timers, there are preset and interval. Preset timers can be repeated, but interval timers cannot... sort of. I found a way to get a normal auto-repeat timer out of the WS1600H however.
In the end, it is the dial that makes up for the complicated stuff. Large day, large month-date, large time, dual-bulb amber night light.
The WS1600H has one of the largest month-date displays for a Casio digital. The W218H has a big day-date but doesn't display the month on the main time screen. Where day and month-date display are concerned, the WS1600H is only outdone by the WS1000H.
If you can deal with the complicated nature of the stopwatch and countdown timers of the WS1600H, then yes it's worth getting. Or if you just want something AE1200 sized where the time, day and month-date are large, that's also a good reason to get one.
Lekato Looper Pedal Review (and how-to)
Transparency notice: Lekato did send me the pedal for free for review and I did not have to return it. Consider this a sponsored review.
Lekato was nice enough to send me this guitar looper pedal for review!
In all honesty, this is in fact the looper pedal I would buy personally were I shopping for one because it has all the features I like.
The pedal sent to me is simply known as the Lekato Looper Guitar Pedal.
Get this pedal on Amazon here.
The box states this is a "Looper Pro", the pedal itself has "Loop Stage" printed on it. The manual states it is the Lekato Loop Stage, which is the name I like best because it matches what is printed on the pedal.
This is actually the second Lekato looper I've owned. I still have my first one. The first pedal still works great. It's the more basic model with just 3-loop capability and has been very reliable.
However, the one I just received is a 9-loop version. I did not realize how handy that would be until I started using it. It is the just-right amount of loop slots available to craft together a complex song. A basic song would be verse/chorus/bridge because that's all that 3 loops will allow. With 9, you're opened up to recording more verses, a pre-chorus and so on.
I do very much appreciate that the pedal is of steel construction. I also appreciate that the footswitch has a sturdy nylon washer beneath the nut. In my experience this does hold the switch together better. Steel washers over time have a tendency to make the nut loosen itself from repeated switch use, but nylon doesn't do that.
I also very much appreciate the ease-of-use and easy readability from a distance. This pedal can be read from standing position very easily, and the "race track" like LEDs give you a very clear idea of where you are for any loop.
The total recording time for this pedal is a maximum 10 minutes per loop, maximum 40 minutes recording time. Believe me, that is more than enough time to record all the loops you need to.
Because the pedal saves loops as lossless WAV audio files, you can plug the pedal via USB into your computer to copy them. On Windows PCs there are no drivers necessary for the pedal to be seen in Windows.
I have used other looper pedals before that require complicated software just to get the loop audio files copied from the pedal - and that software always goes obsolete and won't run in future versions of Windows later. The Lekato pedal does not have that problem. Just plug in the pedal, copy your WAV audio files, done.
I also very much appreciate the fact the pedal can be powered by 9-volt adapter or USB from the supplied cable it comes with.
It's easy
This is the best compliment I can give the pedal. You do not need to sit down and take days to learn how the pedal works. All it takes is just a few minutes.
Not only is it easy, but has just enough advanced features that make it far and above better than the super-basic loopers. You get the 9 loop slots, a guitar tuner, undo/redo capability, running loops in the order you want, volume control, optional auto-record (which the manual refers to as sync), it's all there.
Here's a video I made showing the functions of the pedal. It's good stuff.
4 port USB hubs last longer and I have no idea why
I was trying to find a technical explanation for why this is, but I'm still stumped.
USB hubs with 4 ports are really easy to find and are the most common. The second most common are 7 port versions, and I can actually explain why that is. It's a carryover from the USB 2.0 specification. I won't get into the super nerdy explanation of it, but because of that spec, manufacturers by choice limit the maximum number of downstreams to 7.
Any USB hub with more than 7 ports means there are two or more cascaded ICs (integrated circuits) getting the job done there. The most common you'll find is the 11 port USB hub.
But going back to the 4-port, for some reason they seem to last the longest. Any hub with more than 4 ports usually will give up the ghost sooner. And because USB hubs are such basic devices, there of course is no warning when this will happen. The thing either starts having problems connecting devices properly or just outright stops working.
Can you test a hub?
Not really. It's either working or it's not. Yeah, some will say you can run speed and/or power tests and so on, but that really doesn't spell out if a hub is working 100% or not.
The only real way to test a hub is against another, so it's a good thing hubs are cheap. If your USB stuff plugged into the old hub is acting weird, get a new hub, plug everything back in, and if it all works, great. Throw the old hub out. If not, then it's probably either a device or a USB cable issue.
My guess...
The only thing I can think of as to why 4-port hubs last longer is there's less overall stress on the circuit with 4 compared to 7.
Again, total guess. Nobody else seems to have an answer why 4-port USB hubs last longer other than "they just do".
I miss accent chairs
This is another one of those things where old is new again.
For a long period of time (almost 50 years?) the standard decor in most living rooms included an accent chair. What exactly is an accent chair? It's a chair meant to seat a single person that's purposely different from other chairs in the room so your eye is drawn to it. In this case, "accent" doesn't mean "matches the other furniture", but rather just something to give the room a little pizzazz, if you will.
Accent chairs come in many colors. You have choice, so you're bound to find something that matches the color of whatever furniture you have now.
Of course, there is also the option of getting the chair(s) with matching ottoman.
I'm honestly surprised how inexpensive accent chairs are. They start low in cost, but totally qualify as real-deal furniture.
Is it worth it to buy an accent chair?
This depends whether you have people over routinely or not.
If friends or family visit from time to time, yes, get the accent chair because it will actually get used.
If people don't visit often, treat yourself to a decent coffee table.
I won't be getting the Casio WS1600H
You'd think with this being a new inexpensive model that I'd be all over it, but no, I'm giving this one a miss.
I am a fan of cheap Casio digital watches, evidenced by the fact I've owned many and my current daily wearer is model W218H (I like that one so much I bought a second for a backup). They're cheap enough to where you can splurge a little, buy one and see how you feel about it.
So here comes the WS1600H. It looks good with that '80s and '90s flavor to it. But the more I examined it, the more I realized what it was, and decided nope, not this one.
What is the WS1600H? A restyle of the AE1300. What gave it away is the fact it has just one alarm and a bunch of complicated countdown timer features. Once I researched it more, that's when I figured out, "Oh... just a different AE1300".
This isn't to say the WS1600H is bad. Not at all. It's a great watch and the styling is absolutely good - but... - for me it has things that are deal-breakers.
It's the same size as a popular watch people buy to mod, the affectionately known "Casio Royale", i.e. AE1200. This means it has the same strap as the AE1200, and I do not like the strap on that watch.
The fact it has a single alarm is annoying. If this watch had 5 alarms like the AE1200 and AE1000W (which incidentally has an identical feature set to the AE1200), that would elevate it to near-perfect Casio digital watch. But unfortunately, that's not in the cards for this timepiece.
The "COUNTDOWN TIMER" text on the dial. Also annoying. Casio loves to print features on their digital watch cases, and the WS1600H is no exception. If you want that text gone, you can't sand it off readily because it's on the inside of the case, meaning you'd have to take the watch apart and pull the module out just to get to that area. After that, a few passes with fine sandpaper (minimum 1000 or 1500 grit) will remove that text. But the fact you even have to DO that is annoying in itself.
Last but not least, color choices. There are 3, and Casio misses the mark with each one. WS1600H-1AV, seen above, is the least worst looking with its gray bezel and orange script. Model WS1600H-8AV has a black bezel and green script. Model WS1600H-2AV has a black bezel but blue case and strap, and the script is yellow.
What should have happened is a WS1600H-1AV with all the orange replaced to gray. Then it would look just right (which by the way is why the W218H-1AV looks as good as it goes as it carries that color scheme). Unfortunately, that doesn't exist. You can't unsee that COUNTDOWN TIMER in a color you don't want every time you look at the dial.
I'm not willing to take apart one of these just to scrape off that COUNTDOWN TIMER script, so again, I'm giving this one a miss.