Bags Bags and More Bags! I’m beginning to think that the bag is going to replace the stainless water bottle as the international signal of environmentalists.

A few weeks ago we reviewed a reusable grocery bag made by trader joes. Well, almost 30 minutes after that review went live I got an email from Steve at thebetterbag.com offering me a sample and a chance to prove him right and proclaim to the world that he has a better bag.

I didn’t tell him this but I’m a sucker for business owners with guts and cajones! I love it when someone who makes a product can claim, unequivocally that their product is superior. Well, not long after he and I worked out the details I was using his bag and measuring it up to others.

Steve doesn’t say that other bags are bad… his is just better for the sole reason that it is 100% completely recyclable. See, Steve has over 20 years experience recycling plastic. So he knows that most of the other recycled bags have been changed from a pure plastic to an other and that most municipalities can’t recycle them. So when you go to throw away your “not better” bag, it gets put straight into the landfill. Not so with the better bag. Send it back to them and he can promise you that its gets recycled properly.

The better bag is a black plastic weave with cloth handles. It is large, flexable, and strong. I used it and abused it and it kept on ticking. It serves that same purpose as other bags, but it is a true cradle to cradle product. It’s not less bad, its good!

I’ve gotta say… seek out a better bag. I suggest you start at The Better Bag.com

Here is the video review.

RATING: 5 out of 5 Gears for Fixed and Variable environmental benefit, price, product quality / design, and being a great purchase for everyone.

I was shopping at Generation Green in Columbus, Ohio the other day and Mrs. Green Gear pointed me to something I’ve been looking for for a while.  A recycled boot tray for indoor or outdoor use made by DII.

I hate coming in from the winter cold and getting dirt and water everywhere.  Even if i Bang my feet against the door jam it always seems like i end up making a mess.  This product pretty much works like a charm.  It has room for 3 pairs of shoes and boots, with little markings where they go.  It also as a nice reservoir for water collection.

There are a couple things I don’t love about this product.  First, it’s made in India, so that means its shipped here.  Now I understand the labor savings and the rationale for outsourcing, but… still… I’d like it if this Seattle company used US Labor.  Anyway, I’d also think this would be a cooler product if it had tire treads on it… Since it’s recycled rubber, this design would make it a bit more unique.

UPDATE: We’ve been using this product through a very wet icy winter and I have lost a bit of faith in it. The “feet” design on it keep water, so then it never channels away, just stays there. Also the treads are just not deep enough. If all that weren’t enough, i’ve been shopping around and this one is 50% more than others. So i’m changing the rating from 3 to 1 gear. Sorry DII.

Here is the video review.

RATING: 1 out of 5 Gears for being made of recycled material.

So I caved. After seeing Vince and that damn Shamwow commercial, I made my way to the “as seen on TV” shelf end at my local target and plunked down $20 of my hard earned green to see if I would say “wow” every time.

For those of you who don’t know. The shamwow is a shammy. It holds water… a lot of water. And you can use it just about anywhere on just about anything. It’s green claim to fame is that if you use it, you will not be using paper towels and thus saving trees everywhere.

The Shamwow commercials are funny. The guy is kind of a jerk in a charming sort of way. He compliments the German people on wonderful engineering, he has a headset on for some inexplicable reason, and he likes to clean up messes with blaze orange towels.

We used the shamwow for about two weeks and while we can report that we did use less paper towels, we didn’t stop. The shamwow is really good at pick up liquid, but that’s about it. it doesn’t clean very well or pick up dirt, grime, or dust with any sort of ease of use. They are washable, but don’t put them in the dryer.

I’m happy we have them around unless I ever need to reenact the commercials at a party, or clean up a bucket of water that was spilled on the floor… but I they didn’t replace paper towels and i’m yet to say “wow,” even just one time. Video Review Below.

RATING: 1 out of 5 Gears for providing a substitute for a disposable product… sorta.

Mankind hath always enjoyed the look and feel of wood.  It is a sign of strength, power, durability, and elegance.  Its difficult to imagine a world where wood played a lesser part.  Our buildings, our furniture, our fire, and our fences.  The Red Wood Forests, Log Cabins, Ships, and the entire state of Oregon would not exist if not for wood. 

Until now, if you wanted your wood to look tops, you had to get out cleaners that had enough chemicals to sink a scientist.  I mean, think back to grade school… pretty much all of your wood cleaners under the cabinet had that neon green “ick” sticker that they passed out in school.  You may not have learned your ABCs in Grammar class, but you sure as hell learned that the friendly can of Olde English or Pledge under your sink could kill you dead. 

Leave it to the wonderful folks at Method Products in San Fran, CA to develop a non-toxic wood cleaner that leaves your desks, chairs, tables, and gun stocks looking and feeling great!  This was the first Method product I tried and I can credit it for pretty much getting me hooked on the entire line.  We have a beautiful kitchen table that we got on a mega discount and this cleaner makes it look great. 

In addition to being non-toxic, the wipes version seen in the video and photo are made of bamboo and 100% compostable.  The plastic package also uses far less plastic than typical containers.   I mean, what’s not to love about that. But get this, when you stack these up against the new pledge wipes, these are not only better (IMO) but CHEAPER!!!!!

I didn’t know this prior to doing my video, so this drastically changes things in my eye.  Here is the video review.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Gears for Being made with less and 100% compostable, Product Quality, Price, and Being Fit to Print / Good to Go / In Ship Shape / Squared Away / MassConsumptable / Or whatever else you want to call it.

Wind me up Baby!

Today we’re reviewing a gift i received for Christmas, a Wind-Up LED Flashlight by MegaBrite.  The concept is simple, instead of using batteries, you charge it up via a crank on the side and then use it at your will.  Each flashlight has 3 LED bulbs in in and two settings, one which uses one LED, the other uses all three.

I’ve seen these on amazon.com for 8.99 for one, which to me seems a bit steep.  But if you compare it to similar high end flashlights i guess its in the ballpark.  My pack came with two so i’ve got one under my bed in my “emergency kit,”  and another in my Mrs. Green Gear’s Car.  Can’t be too careful!

Check out the video review.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Gears for Saving Batteries, Product Quality, and “Value”

I really like aerators!  Who Doesn’t?  They cost very little.  They Save Water and Money AT THE SAME TIME!!!!

Enough aerator love!  Today I am reviewing  the Neoperl Bubble-Stream Dual Flow Kitchen Aerator.  This is a chrome finish aerator that allows the user to choose a .5GPM spray stream or 2.2GPM flow with the click of a switch. Why is this a good thing?  Why not just have a .5GPM (or lower) stream all the time?  Well, in the kichen more than any other room, people often require a specific amount of water for a given task.. filling a water bottle or getting 2 cups of water for baking, for instance.  While a .5GPM aerator solves this task, it often takes a VERY LONG TIME, and passes the level of practicality and functionality that most people ask.

That’s one reason why this is a great product, it offers BOTH, with a default for the lower flow.  All you need to do is to pull down on the black bottom and it will give you a higher flow rate, when you’re done and pressure is releaved, it resets to .5GPM.  No fuss, no muss.  Just saving water the easy way.

Another thing I really like about this product is the fact that it’s stylish.  Most Dual flow aerators i’ve seen are ugly and look like some sort of metalic growth.. This does not, while it does protrude, it doesn’t do it too much to offend.  If you have a stainless sink, this is a perfect fit.  It’s easy to install too.

What else?  Well, the best news is that this wonderful product only costs $5 at popular stores, i got this one at home depot.

I honestly thing this product is for everyone looking to conserve water, save money on energy bills… or BOTH!

Check out the video review, complete with comic relief.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Gears for Price, Water Savings, Product Detail and Quality, and Being Ready for Primetime!

Today we’re going to be reviewing a more festive green product.  StayBright 100 LED White Christmas Lights by General Electric.  Last Year Mrs. Green Gear and I picked up a 9 ft. Strand of Multicolored LED Christmas lights (which are still going strong) for $20.  But this year, the strand is 33ft long and only 14.99 (at costco).

These look like traditional xmas lights and are graded for indoor and outdoor use.  Each light has a frosted texture to it that adds to the festivity.  Because these are made by GE you can tell that they are a quality product.  They even have a constant on feature where if you break one of the lights, the rest stay on.

The only downside we see here is that even with the energy (see green) savings of the product you are still going to spend more than you would on traditional christmas lights, so we don’t see this product moving from niche to mass adoption any time soon.  But they are some pretty nice lights for people looking to use less energy.  (quick fact, LEDs also require far less energy to manufactuer than traditional lights).  Happy Holidays!

Rating: 3 out of 5 Gears for Reduced Energy to Manufacture, Reduced Energy Consumption, and Product Quality

Finally, Victory against BPA… whatever the hell that is!

Water is amazing! Simply Amazing. Great for your body, Great for the planet… zero calories, filling, delicious, the essence of all things natural. We are mostly water, Our earth is mostly water. We send robots to mars to look for frozen water, it’s THAT damn cool! Humans Love Water.

But over the past decade or so serving water in a bottle has become the norm, and that norm has become a mess of an environmental problem. We use too many plastic bottles and only 20% of them are put back into the manufacturing system. The rest sit in landfills or are incinerated, neither of which is all that great.

I became strikingly aware of this during a recent golf outing where at the end i had a cart full of bottles, most of them carrying water. So after that I took it upon myself to find a durable, portable, reusable plastic bottle similar to a nalgene. What i ended up settling on is the Camelback 750ml Water Bottle. It comes in many colors and two designs, with or without camel’s um…. nipple.

Reusable water bottles are good examples of what I call “green by use” products (as opposed to “green by make”). The items itself is not recyclable, but its purpose changes the way in which we “use” complementary products in a way that benefits our resources. This product is well priced, well designed, affordable, resource friendly, and has mass appeal. Those traits award it 5 gears!

I got one for myself and the mrs., mine is a smokey gun metal and hers is dark red. If you haven’t already I recommend you pick one of these up. You’ll drink more water and pollute less.

Check out the video review and post comments! Drink up!

UPDATE: I Love the camelback but i’m changing the rating due to my new criteria. 

RATING: 4 out of 5 Gears for Product Quality / Design, Value, Variable Eco Benefit, and Being Ready for Mass Adoption.

So Sleek! Even without the Chrome!

Today we’re reviewing the Agent 18 Eco Friendly iPhone case. A few weeks ago I gave in to the pressure to purchase an iPhone and once again went out to pay a premium for a fancy apple device. This compelling feeling BTW, I call the “Steve Jobs Tax.” Now, walking around with a 400 phone clanking around in my pocket is a new experience for me so I immediately started looking for a case. Not just any old case, this is Mr. Green Gear we’re talking about. I stumbled upon the Agent 18. This is a 2 piece hard plastic shell. It is made out of recycled material and also sports pretty dandy minimalized packaging.

Overall it’s a good product, but while they advertise that, “it docks” it doesn’t work with the included iphone docking station. so you need to remove the bottom half to dock with it. No big deal for me. Overall we gave it 3 out of 5 gears. Go ahead and view the video review below and post comments.

BTW, i expect a ton of comments about how awesome my video editing was this time! just a heads up.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Gears for Recycled / able Content, Price, and Product Design / Quality

Clear, Bright, Light.

If you’re like me, when you’re at home depot and you’re shopping for lights, three things matter.  Cost, Wattage, and Quality.  Well, and I want my lights to dim.  Dimming CFLs are nice but not very mainstream.. plus they’re pricey!  If you’re al gore, you can probably afford them for every light in your home, but if you’re me… you’ll probably settle for something like the 40W Philips Halogena light when doing recessed floods.  Using some sort of technology, their light gives you superior quality compared to a 65W Flood, while only using 40W!  That’s nice!  It dims very nicely, unlike a lot of CFLs that can dim and you’re saving a few watts.  While you won’t see any huge dive in your electricity bill, Green Gear is happy that there is a more efficient product out there that uses a bit less.  Still, the added cost of the light won’t save you any money in the long run… unless you use your floods a lot, but the quality is better and we think that is worth paying for.

See the video review below and post comments.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Gears for Product Quality and Reduced Energy Usage