If you're a fan of one-cup or pod coffee makers like the Keurig, you might be like us: fans of the convenience but not of:

• The cost. Although there are some low-cost options (look at "$/Count" next to product names), one pod for a cup of coffee usually costs around 60 cents or more, and in some cases they're over a dollar. That's still a bargain compared to coffee shop prices, but not what you expect to pay at home.
  
  
• The quality. There are plenty of pods that use good beans, but they generally end up as a true American coffee -- a little too watery with too few of the coffee's oils (which add so much flavor).
  
  
• The environmental impact. Maybe you've heard about this: somewhere around 10 billion K-Cups end up in landfills each year. 

That's why we've been telling everyone about our favorite coffee discovery: San Francisco Bay OneCups. These pods offer the experience we always wanted with Keurig (and they're supposed to work in Keurig 2.0 machines, if you're wondering). In other words, it's the reverse of all those points above. San Francisco Bay OneCups give you:

• Much lower costs. You can usually find them for 50 cents or less per pod (even for their organic coffees); buy in boxes of 80 and you'll often pay less than 35 cents each, even with Prime shipping from Amazon.
  
  
• Much better quality. In fact, this is some of the best coffee we've had. You end up with some of the fine grounds at the bottom of your cup; the oils get into the coffee; there is a much better coffee to water ratio. It is designed to be more like drinking a French press coffee. In short, you get a strong, rich coffee flavor.
  
  
• Very low environmental impact. This is because the pods are 97% biodegradable, so there shouldn't be much guilt over using them. Even better, San Francisco Bay has a robust program of working to enhance their farmer's lives. This is a fair trade and direct trade coffee company, and they provide all sorts of perks in terms of education, health, housing, etc.

​How do they achieve all of this? With a different kind of pod. Rather than surrounding the coffee in plastic, they have a plastic ring with a paper top and then a tight mesh beneath that holds the coffee and acts as a filter. So there is FAR less plastic involved; it may be that more coffee is exposed to hot water, but in any case, some of it gets through the net and into the cup. (But don't worry -- you won't end up with a Turkish coffee slush at the bottom of the cup -- just some obvious residue.)

No hype needed here: if you check out the listings on Amazon, you'll see how many lofty reviews this coffee has, and people are generally saying the same things we are. And we've personally handed these pods out to others (because why not share all these benefits), and we've hooked plenty of other people. So if you're on the lookout for a great Keurig coffee, we strongly encourage you to give a try to San Francisco Bay.

Today's post is an introduction to several products rather than a review of just one. We haven't personally experienced these, but think they're fun to share. In short, we've run across quite a number of wooden products on Amazon recently -- and not just items you'd expect to be made out of wood. If you like the natural look and feel of wood like we do, you might get a kick out of these and might find something you'd like to have.

​Browse through and then leave a comment about your favorite or what you think of products like this!

As you probably know, record players have become popular once again, and many of them are more versatile than their ancestors, especially in the sense of allowing you to play MP3 songs through them. And in some cases they offer features like vinyl to MP3 recording, in case you have a huge collection of old vinyls that you'd like to make digital. (Almost defeats the purpose for many people, but it could also be the sole reason some people might want to get a new record player!)

Here are a few whose wooden bodies really bring out the nostalgic feel of record players while blending in modern technology:

These definitely give a retro look to the most modern technology. Swap out your mouse and keyboard for these made of bamboo. The house here claims to be sweat-resistant and anti-radiation. At the time of writing, it has 4.5 stars; the keyboard alone has 4 stars; the combo (which comes with a stylus as well) has 3.5 stars. Note that the combination comes with a much smaller keyboard. Probably best to get the larger keyboard.

You could stick with leather and plastic for your watches, or you could check out these wooden options. All the watches here are well reviewed, with a slightly lower review (3.5 stars as we write this) for the ladies "bangle" watch (the broader wrist ornament).

It's not unusual for furniture to be made of wood, or course. But these stools offer an especially natural look without the usual human shaping of the wood. What do you think?

Today we want to share with you a product category including one of our favorite solutions, called Earthpaste. Most people don't know that this category exists and don't know why it should. But we'll explain.

For the most part, folks may think that the purpose of toothpaste is to:

• Scrub bits of food off the teeth
• Provide fluoride to the teeth to prevent cavities
• Freshen the breath

But there's a totally different way of looking at toothpaste that can dramatically change the products you're looking for. Consider the following:

• Yes, you want to clean bits of food off your teeth, but you also don't want to damage the enamel of the teeth. Even the dentist will tell you that their gritty tooth polish is something you wouldn't use on a daily basis because of this. Yet some toothpastes are highly abrasive, relying on silica (aka the substance found in those "Do Not Eat" packets) to scrub the teeth. There are more natural, less abrasive options.
  
  
• If you're not aware of the fluoride controversy, time to look into it. In short, fluoride is a known neurotoxin. And we know that things in the mouth can absorb quickly into the bloodstream. At best, fluoride provides some topical protection against cavities; at worst it does little to nothing while exposing you to a dangerous substance. Ever notice the poison warning on toothpaste? That's because of the fluoride. And it's a substantial danger if children get their hands on it and eat the toothpaste because it tastes good.
  
  
• In order to make your teeth feel smooth and clean when you're done brushing, most toothpaste and mouthwash includes glycerin, which coats the teeth. But it's believed by many that the minerals in your saliva are supposed to re-mineralize your teeth, rebuilding them like most tissues in the body are designed to do. This should keep them strong without exposing you to fluoride. But when you coat your teeth with glycerin, you prevent this re-mineralization process.

So what we're introducing you to is the category of tooth products without glycerin. These are meant to allow your teeth to rebuild and stay strong. (This still relies on you having adequate minerals in your saliva, and that can involve other health choices.) Many (or all?) of these products have NO fluoride, many avoid damaging ingredients like silica, they don't include questionable ingredients like sodium laurel sulfate, and yes, they still freshen your breath.

One of our favorites is Earthpaste. This is about as natural a product as you could hope to find, as it's basically a natural, mineral-rich clay used to clean the teeth. CLAY??? Yep. And mineral rich, which in theory should help with re-mineralizing the teeth. And while you might not want to eat it, clay is perfectly safe if consumed, so if you swallow some ... no need for a trip to the emergency room.

Earthpaste has just a few ingredients: water (to soften the clay); clay; "Real" salt (for scrubbing the teeth, and again a mineral rich ingredient); xylitol (to sweeten it, and xylitol has many, many studies showing support of tooth health); and essential oils to flavor it. The peppermint flavor also has menthol.

While we might prefer an even stronger flavor from the essential oils, Earthpaste tastes great and does help to freshen the breath. And once you get used to a brownish toothpaste, we bet you'll love the experience, knowing that you're truly supporting tooth health.

There are other products in this category. We've tried Toothsoap, which didn't have a strong flavor and basically just uses oil to clean the teeth. We think this is a good product, but doesn't taste as good and is a pretty different experience from usual toothpaste. Dr. Bronner's has a version we haven't tried.

There are some alcohol-free, glycerin-free mouthwash options too. Some that have a great flavor are oil based and we found them messy and less pleasant to use than our favorite, Essential Oxygen Brushing Rinse, which is based on hydrogen peroxide. (So-called because you can also use it on your toothbrush for brushing your teeth.) This is another one where we wish the flavor were stronger, but it still provides a clean, freshening experience.

We hope you'll explore this category of glycerin-free oral care products and discover a better way of keeping a clean, fresh mouth!

If you're an owner of a Sonicare toothbrush, you know what an amazing clean it gives your teeth. Probably there's a dentist out there somewhere that doesn't like Sonicare, but I've never met one. Dental hygienists too. They all seem to be fans.

(If you don't use Sonicare yet ... we can't recommend it highly enough. It's such a low-cost option for addressing such an important part of your health. Just get through the first few brushes when it tickles the heck out of your gums; pretty soon that will feel normal. Find the base model here for $20 at the time of this writing -- includes your first brush head. That page also has a comparison chart with other Sonicare models.)

​But as a Sonicare owner, you know that there's just one thing painful about them: the cost of replacing brush heads. They're like $8 each (at the time of this writing), which isn't horrific given that the overall toothbrush takes care of your teeth so much better than your standard brush. But if you want to be responsible and replace your brush head every 3 months (and maybe after you've been sick as well), that might feel like it's adding up.

Well here's some good news Sonicare fan: there are plenty of compatible brush heads that can be had for $2 and less a piece. Indeed.

Of course we haven't been maniacs brushing our teeth with every brand available, but we did give this one a try by Demirdental because of its 4.5 star rating after hundreds of reviews on Amazon. Our experience?

We wouldn't give it 5 stars because of some subtle things. For one, it didn't seem to fit as snugly against the body of the Sonicare as a Sonicare brush head; so far, this just seems cosmetic, and as we try out more in the future we'll update this if we find that it was a fluke.

Second, when initially moving over from the Sonicare head, there was something about the shape of the new brush head we didn't like quite as well. Something about it being a touch more difficult to position properly for a good brush.

But like many new things, with a little time it seems like it's becoming more natural and it definitely seems to be providing a great brush. We might grade it 4 stars on these points alone, but we'd be irked that we couldn't give it 4.5 stars, which is just where the Amazon rating is.

Long story short, if you don't want to cough up the full price for the brand name brush head, you won't go wrong with these, and they don't cost any more than a standard toothbrush. After a bout with a cold, I'd hate to throw out a Philips brush head if it were still pretty new; with these, not such a big deal. (Ok ... environmental concerns aside. But that gets us into the topic of things like bamboo toothbrushes, and sadly there are so far no bamboo Sonicare replacement heads that we're aware of.)

So with base models at $20 for Sonicare and replacement heads for $2 each ... there's really no reason (unless ... environment) not to brush this way. And we think you'll love the difference it makes on your teeth and at the dentist.

Cable and DSL providers have been offering digital phone service as a low-cost alternative to expensive land lines for a while now, and this is truly the wave of the future for home phones -- AT&T already has plans to stop providing traditional land lines in the coming years. So is it time for you to make the switch and start saving money? This review will explain when it makes sense for you and then will look closely at the hottest selling digital phone service, Ooma.

Digital phone service gives you far, far more features than traditional land lines, and at a fraction of the cost. Forward calls to other phones; do 3-way calling; get voice messages by e-mail; get called ID and call waiting; unlimited calls in the countries covered by your plan; etc. Most plans are $25 or less per month, and some are under $10/month. And yes, you can port your home phone number over to the new service.

In fact, if they worked flawlessly, there would be almost no reason not to make the switch to digital phone services. One of the big differences is that they don't offer quite the same 911 service -- they offer what's called E911. You can usually take these services with you, so you need to make sure you update your location in the system if 911 is going to help you.

But the bigger issue is that call quality comes down to internet bandwidth, and if you don't have a robust internet connection, you could run into call quality problems. This is especially true if someone in the house is playing an online game, another is watching Netflix (or any internet based show service), and so on. The more the internet is being used, the tougher a time you may have with your phone.

This is true of any internet or digital phone service, though some have better technology to adapt to this than others.

One other thing to consider: when the electricity (or just your internet) goes out, your digital phone goes out too. With traditional landlines, you're usually able to still make calls when the electricity goes out, provided you don't use a phone that gets plugged in. With cell phones available, this isn't a problem for many people, but you should make sure that won't be a problem for you before you make the switch. Most digital phone services (including Ooma) can forward calls to a cell phone when the digital service is not available.

So out of today's digital phone services, why is Ooma so popular?

Simple: once you buy the device (starting under $100) the service is practically free. They have to charge some federal fees, which total a couple bucks per month, but that's it. Use your internet connection and you're good to go.

This "free" service (a couple bucks that they have no control over) includes:

• Caller ID and call waiting (and you can enter your own called ID for your contacts if you want to change how they show up)
• Caller ID blocking
• Free calls to anywhere in the USA
• Call return (*69) and call hold
• Voicemail you can access through any phone or web browser
• Answering machine capability (on the device itself)

If you're still using a traditional landline and you have services like these, you'll know that they cost a lot. But not with Ooma. And with Ooma, you can choose to upgrade (around $10/month) as well for features like:

• Free calls to Canada and Puerto Rico
• A bunch of voicemail features, including my favorite: forwarding the audio file to my email
• Enhanced caller ID and better call blocking (including known spammer blocking)
• Call forwarding, backup number, and multi-ring (get your house calls on your cell phone, for instance)
• Other advanced features like a second line (requires one of their handsets), 3-way calling, custom ring patterns, and more.

When we first switched to Ooma, we had problems with calls blanking out for a couple seconds at a time, then coming back. We tested an upgrade to our internet speed and this completely fixed it. So in this sense, Ooma wasn't free -- we had to get better internet for our home. But since we use services like Netflix and have 4 computers using the internet heavily, this makes sense for us in many ways.

If you have a good speed to your internet -- I recommend at least 12 Mbps as an internet speed, and ideally over 20 if you have several devices using it at once -- then Ooma is a fantastic service with thousands of reviews and 4.5 stars on Amazon.

With the phaseout of most incandescent light bulbs over the last couple of years, LED bulbs have come storming into the news for their longevity and efficient use of energy to produce light. (Known in the industry as efficacy -- the number of lumens, or light output, produced by a watt of energy.)

Complaints about LEDs have traditionally been about the quality of the light produced and the cost of the bulbs. But prices have been plummeting and light quality has gone up dramatically, so there's little left to complain about. Long-term, these bulbs really are big money savers!

Despite this progress and greater public acceptance (even a genuine liking) of LED bulbs, there are still dissenters, and a new lighting technology called "acandescent" is aimed at upending the LED apple cart ... and its garnered a lot of press coverage while trying to do so, even before the first bulb has been sold to the public. The company that developed this technology is producing what's called the "Finally" bulb, and we wanted to provide an in-depth review comparing this bulb with LEDs.

To understand how they compare, it's important to understand a couple things about light bulbs:

Watts vs. Lumens
1) Most of us are used to thinking of light bulbs in terms of watts, because this gave you an idea of how much light would be produced. But this is more accurately understood by lumen output. An old 60-watt incandescent produced around 800 lumens of light. An LED can do that with around 10 watts of energy.

Color Temperature
2) Most people are accustomed to incandescent bulbs, which produce light at a "warm" color temperature of around 2700K. (A yellowish bulb.) Halogen bulbs are a little whiter, or cooler, at up to 3000K. Offices often use bulbs at 3500K to 4100K, and there are even whiter or cooler bulbs as well. Early issues with LEDs were how white they were, but they now mimic the 2700K of an incandescent very well.

CRI, or Color Rendering Index
3) CRI stands for Color Rendering Index, and has to do with how well a light bulb reproduces the colors of an object accurately. This scale tops out at 100, which is about the rating of incandescents and halogens. In other words, they render colors extremely well. Most LED bulbs score about 80 to 82, which is typical of fairly good fluorescent bulbs in an office setting, and is adequate for most applications. Some LEDs, however, score into the 90s.


The Finally Bulb Review
Now that we have some background knowledge, let's look at how the Finally bulb stacks up against LEDs. I felt this was important to address because the Finally bulb website has its own comparison chart, which I find grossly misleading for the consumer. Here are the comparison points it makes, and my response to them:

Familiar / Attractive Shape:
Finally: Yes    LED: No
Once upon a time LEDs had stranger shapes, but these days many if not most look like traditional incandescent bulbs. Some look different by design, offering an artistic approach to lighting that might complement one's decor. While the Finally bulb looks nice, I think most LEDs do as well, and they offer options not available from Finally.

Fits Standard Fixtures:
Finally: Yes   LED: No
I don't even know where this comes from. LEDs have specifically been designed as replacement bulbs, fitting the traditional "Edison" screw that we have throughout our homes. And the bulbs themselves are typically the same size. In some cases, the heat sink makes part of the bulb a little larger, but this wouldn't preclude them from fitting in most fixtures.

Warm / High Quality Light:
Finally: Yes   LED: No
Go back to the color temperature item I discussed earlier and you can see that LEDs now closely mimic the warmth of incandescent bulbs. As for quality, LEDs (typically 80 to 82 CRI) and the Finally bulb (83 CRI) render colors almost identically. So there's not much support for this claim. However, some who've had early access to the Finally bulb have talked about it visually having a nicer look, and this is something I won't know until the bulbs are available later this year.

Omnidirectional:
Finally: Yes   LED: No
This is sort of true. An incandescent bulbs spreads its light in all directions ... which can be good or bad depending on the application. For instance, a light bulb in a lamp with the bulb facing upward would then shine light up toward the ceiling (where you don't need it) and downwards toward the book you're reading. LEDs provide directional light -- they shine mainly in one direction. But that is the individual diode. Several diodes are used in a bulb, and they can be positioned in a way that sends light in all directions. They are more flexible in this regard. So the value of this comparison really depends on your application and on the LED that you buy.

Instantly Bright:
Finally: Yes   LED: Yes
This is an honest comparison. Both of them provide full brightness basically as soon as you hit the switch.

Energy Efficient:
Finally: Yes   LED: Yes
This is also an honest comparison ... sort of. They're both far more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, but LEDs are about 30% more efficient than Finally bulbs. The latter use 14.5 watts to produce 800 lumens while LEDs only take 9-11 watts at the time of this writing. That might not sound like a lot but at two hours a day and 15 cents per kWh (including delivery charges), those 4 watts cost you about 45 cents more per year for every Finally bulb in your house. As we'll see, the bulbs themselves cost about the same amount, so this is just money out the window.

Long Life:
Finally: Yes   LED: Yes
Again an honest comparison against incandescent bulbs. But Finally bulbs are rated for about 15,000 hours of life and LEDs are for about 25,000 hours. This means that Finally bulbs don't just cost you more to run, but they're likely to cost you more in replacements over time as well. Of course both should last you for years, but that doesn't negate this point.

Low Cost:
Finally: Yes   LED: No
One of their touted reasons for developing this technology is that LED bulbs were too expensive and people wouldn't pay that much for light bulbs. Unfortunately for them, LED bulbs are now easily purchased for $10 or less, and the Finally bulb is slated for release at $9.99 per bulb. You can buy a known-brand LED for that much, and a non-dimmable version for even less. Between this and the energy costs, I feel like price is definitely in favor of LEDs.

Smart Bulbs:
This is NOT an item covered by the Finally bulbs review, but I should point out that LED is a digital technology, which can lead to a lot of interesting extras. People are developing LED bulbs that are also speakers, or that respond to voice commands. And many are now available that respond to smart phones and programming. They can gradually brighten to wake you or dim to help you fall asleep. They can change colors. They can respond to music, or turn on as you approach, and much more. The Philips Hue is perhaps the best known of these, but TCP and others have both come out with versions as well..

Mercury:
Also not covered in the Finally comparison chart ... LEDs do not contain any mercury, which is a toxic element that we don't want making its way to landfills. Light bulbs with mercury can be recycled, but they're often not. Finally bulbs contain about 2 mg of mercury each -- less than the amount used in CFL bulbs. But they still have mercury.


At the end of the day, I think the value of Finally bulbs will really come down to whether people see a meaningful difference in the quality of light. They don't win based on color temperature and CRI alone, but perhaps they do in person, and this would have to make the difference if they're going to really make a dent in the LED market. When we get our hands on a Finally bulb, we'll bring our own experience of light quality into this review. Besides that, time will tell if this is the next bulb to fall in love with, or just a great attempt at a massive consumer market.

If you suffer from cold hands, then this heated mouse review is one you simply don't want to miss, because I've struggled with cold hands all my life, and my body runs cold all the time. I get along with summer really well, but not winter.

So when I moved from freelancing into a traditional office environment and wouldn't have a heater stashed under my desk anymore, I knew I needed a solution for keeping warm. The first thing I checked out were gloves heated by USB connection to my computer. (Had to buy them from China, as the ones sold domestically don't look good, at least for a guy to wear.)

While warm, the gloves weren't easy to put on or take off, and the heat was uncomfortable on the back of my hand. They also got in the way of typing and frankly looked funny with all the wires.

So I continued my search, looking for something less conspicuous. There are USB heated shawls and slippers, but these just won't do in the workplace. And for health reasons, I recommend against sitting on something that radiates heat for a long period of time.

Finally I found this heated mouse, which again heats up once plugged into a USB port. So this is an important point: you need an available USB port, and the mouse is wired. People have gotten used to wireless mouses, but we haven't yet made wireless electricity available for consumer products like this, and the heat would eat up batteries quickly. So you need to be ok with a wired connection if you want to use this mouse.

The mouse itself is pretty average. My main objection is that its center wheel doesn't spin smoothly, but has "notches" in the turning process. I understand this is a style of wheel, but I like the free spinning type, or those that can switch between the styles. Otherwise, expect normal mouse functionality.

The heat controls are pretty close to the mouse itself, and some have said that they wish the controls were closer to the USB port so you don't have to look at the controls. This would be fine if the USB port were always accessible so you could change the heat. But for many, the USB port is under a desk and hard to reach. So in fact, I believe it's positioned where it needs to be.

As for the heat ... it is fantastic. You can turn it to high, low, or off (which I do when I leave the office for the day). On high, it's like holding a slightly insulated cup of coffee -- in my opinion, about as hot as you'd like it to be. Those who get less cold would appreciate the low setting. Depending on just how cold you get, the heat might actually struggle to keep up against the cold on your hand; but I find that overall it does the job I would expect, and I highly recommend it for those trying to keep warm at the computer.

Of course drinking something hot like tea or coffee may be the best way to warm up the body from the inside. But keeping your hand on something warm while you work sure helps out, and the price point makes it an easy decision to buy.

Buy the heated mouse on Amazon.

As we launch our site here at ReviewBoys.com, it's our goal to build specific pages for the most important products or services we want you to know about. But since we also want to be able to review hundreds of products over time and we don't want you getting lost in hundreds of pages, we'll review a lot of products within our blog.

Just use our "Search" function to look for anything you might be interested in, or just browse our blog to discover things you never knew existed.

We'll use this blog in whatever way we can think of to empower YOU. So we might review a product one day, and then a topic another day (which might point you to several products and services we think you'll love).

Please RESPOND with your questions or comments on any blog entry and we'll do our best to answer everything we can. Want to see something reviewed on Review Boys? Contact us and recommend other people's products, or Request a Review for a product of your own.