Review: Halo Scanner Mouse- for your portable scanning needs #holidaygiftguide

UPDATE- Dec. 18, 2013

Did you catch my review on the Halo Pocket Power? It’s a handy little portable device that charges your electronics like your phone or camera. The Starlight version even has a built-in LED flashlight! I also received a Halo Scanner Mouse and mouse pad from Halo2Cloud.com.

Halo Scanner Mouse- easy to use and convenient. Find out more on My Life: A Work in Progress

I’d like to introduce you to Ruth, a new contributor to My Life: A Work in Progress. Ruth brings years of writing experience to MLAWIP. She’s also an attorney, wife, mother, and grandmother. You’ll see her review products and contribute from time to time. Welcome to her first review! -Elisebet

From Ruth:

The Halo scanner mouse from Halo2cloud.com is a great product. It works as a regular mouse and a scanner. Just plug the mouse into your device, swipe over a photo or printed document, and save or share. I’m very pleased at how it functions, but my husband is practically ecstatic. He wants to take it along to the coffee shop, office, etc. (Great gift for the man in your life!)

You will need to download the software (disc provided for Windows users or available online for MAC). The Halo memory is sufficient for a photo or one-page document at a time. The scanned doc can then be saved in a multiple of formats (PDF, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) or shared via email, Facebook, etc. There are multiple resolution settings possible and editing functions. A special mouse pad (fits 8/12 x 11 inch pages) is available (and I would recommend, though not obligatory if you just want to quickly scan a paragraph in a book or small photo).

Halo Scanner Mouse- easy to use and convenient. Find out more on My Life: A Work in Progress
Halo Scanner Mouse with redacted court document. The mouse is great for office, home, or travel. It scans photos too!

In addition to coffee shop, hotel, and office use—the Halo can be used at meetings where literature is being passed around to attendees. With your laptop and Halo—just scan the pages and email back to your office for printing. Printing quality is good for the documents and photos that I have tried, though if you need something that will be passed out at a business meeting (or in court!)—you may want to spend a little more effort with the editing function to get perfect printed copies.

On the other hand, if you just need to save and/or print for yourself—it’s fast and no particular editing is needed. It’s definitely user-friendly (I’m no computer geek).

The mouse works as a regular mouse for your office or home computer; however, my husband is going to want to keep our Halo mouse in his notebook case for the coffee shop! Halo sells the mouse online for $111.95 and the pad is $10.95.

Halo Scanner Mouse- easy to use and convenient. Find out more on My Life: A Work in Progress
The mousepad is not necessary for the Halo Scanner Mouse to work, but is recommended.

UPDATE- We had a reader ask whether the mouse would scan through glass. Ruth tried it out, and this is what she had to say:

The Halo mouse scanner works fine under glass.  The Halo mouse pad that can be purchased with the scanner actually has a plastic overlay that you insert your photos or documents under, so under the glass does not seem to be any problem.  However, I actually found it easier to still use the mouse pad–inserting the photo under glass under the plastic sheet of the Halo mouse pad. (It’s just easier to get a quicker, clean scan when using the mouse pad.)

The original “old” photos attached were scanned under their glass, using the Halo mouse scanner and mouse pad with plastic overlay.  I did no editing of either photo, though this can be done, as well, with the Halo mouse scanner program. (So you can see the scratch in one photo and red smear courtesy of one of my children with a red marker years ago.) By the way, the pictures are of my Great-Aunt Mary and of my father with one of his older brothers.

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Visit Halo2Cloud.com to see what they have to offer.

Where would you take your scanner mouse? Business trip, coffee shop, or somewhere else?

General Disclaimer- Floral

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Review: NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker #holidaygiftguide2013

NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips review

I was thrilled to receive the NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips to review. The timing was perfect, since Hubby and I had just purchased bicycles for ourselves and a bike seat for Baby J. Not only that, but a friend had asked if I’d like to ride with her in a 30-mile charity event in the spring. With all the riding and training I’ll be doing now, the speaker will come in really handy.

About and Our Experiences:

I’m not going to give you all the dimensions and specs for the NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, because I think it’s easier for you to just click on the link and check out the site’s description of the speaker. But I will say the speaker has a built-in microphone with noise cancellation, so you can pair it to your phone and talk with someone hands free. Also, the speaker is compatible with smart phones, BlackBerry, iPhones, iPods, and iPads. It comes with a USB charging cable, so you can charge it from your laptop or desktop. We also have a USB/wall adaptor (I don’t think that’s the technical term, sorry) that we can use with it. The battery lasts us around five hours, which, according to their website, is the average.

NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips review

I can easily pick the speaker up and hold it in my hand, but it’s still large enough that it can blast sound, if I want it to. The sound quality is great! It’s very clear and crisp. Even hubby was impressed by the sound. He also liked that it includes a little bag to keep the speaker from getting scratched. The bag’s not padded, though, so it won’t keep the speaker from breaking if dropped.

About that…sooooo I did actually drop the speaker on cement outside, but it didn’t smash into pieces, thankfully! It still works as well as before. I’m not planning on dropping it again to continue to test my theory, but it seems quite sturdy.

My favorite part about this speaker would have to be the bike clips. The speaker is definitely for more than just bicycles; in fact, as I’m sitting on my bed typing this, the speaker is next to me, playing music from my iPhone. BUT the fact that I can attach it to my bike is pretty cool. I followed the instructions to attach it, and the process was easy. I can actually leave the clips on my handlebars and just slide the speaker off of the clips when I want. This is nice if I want to leave my bike outside of a store or next to the playground. I can take the speaker off and put it in my purse or diaper bag. Then since the clips are already attached to the bike, the speaker is easy to get back on.

NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips review
Back of speaker
NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips review
Speaker removed from clips

This speaker will actually attach to strollers, but the area it attaches to has to be the same size as bike handlebars or smaller (in my experience). I tried it on three different strollers- a light weight stroller, a regular stroller, and a jogging stroller. The foam grips that come on most stroller handlebars are too wide for the bike clips to fit over. I was able to attach the speaker to the lightweight stroller, but it was further down by the seat. My son actually loved that. The other night we went for a walk around our local lake. I played an “Owl City” album from my iPod, and Baby J just chilled out and listened to the music while he walked. His little feet were kicking away, “dancing.” If I want him to sleep, I play some lullaby tracks. I’m determined to find other areas of his strollers to attach this speaker, especially the jogging stroller for my runs, so check back in a couple of weeks, and I’ll update this post!

NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with bike clips review
The only thing I don’t like about the speaker is the little tabs on the bike clips seem flimsy. Every time I remove the speakers from the clips, I’m afraid I’m going to break the tabs. I’m being really careful though. It’s been a few weeks of use, and so far so good!

All in all, it’s a great little speaker. If you’re going to spend anytime on a bicycle, or pushing a stroller, or if you’re just looking for a lightweight, portable wireless speaker with quality sound, I recommend checking out the NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker.

If you’re a military family, you can now find this speaker as well as other NYNE speakers at AAFES! The NYNE NB-200 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is also available on (affiliate link>Amazon. Find them on Facebook and Twitter for updates and giveaways.

Compensated Pink Opinions Expressed Pink Button*Affiliate link present and marked as such.*

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