Comments for the ecophile

Comment on OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight – Orange/Fuchsia by Tiamaria83

Tiamaria83 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:59:46 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Gorgeous glowing nightlights from OXO, 14 July 2010

This review is from: OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight - Orange/Fuchsia (Kitchen & Home)

These nightlights from OXO were an absolute hit with my nieces-they sometimes have trouble sleeping and the warm glow given from the lights really helped to send them off to sleep. The tooli's glow all night long and light up automatically when you life them from their charging bases, making them energy efficient too. They also make a great talking point as they're such an unusual, fun shape and come in really vibrant colours.

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Comment on OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight – Orange/Fuchsia by Tabs

Tabs — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:17:59 +0000

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Great green product but when the batteries fail there is no UK distributor, 1 April 2011

Tabs -

This review is from: OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight -Blue/Green (Kitchen & Home)

We bought the candelas 18 months ago for our daughter as she wouldn't sleep in the dark and wanted a light to walk to the bathroom. I was sick of buying plastic tat that broke, so we invested in these expensive nightlights because the rechargeable batteries were replaceable.
They were fantastic for nearly a year. They are a quality build and great design. We made sure they were completely drained of battery before recharging and everything worked well. Then the batteries started to die after 5 hours, then 2, and now they only hold about 30min charge. No worries thought I, because this happens eventually to all batteries. I just need to buy new rechargeable ones.
So I went back to the box, carefully kept, with detailed instructions of how to replace the rechargeable batteries. But nothing about where to get replacements. Just "contact your local supplier". I spent a month contacting Amazon, Mamas and Papas, and other sellers of candelas. No joy. They all said they were guaranteed for 12 months. If they had broken before 12 months I would have gotten a totally new replacement set. As it was they couldn't get hold of just new batteries for me to buy.
Finally we contacted OXO USA and UK. And it turns out that you cannot buy the replacement rechargeable batteries in the UK! I can't believe it. So we are stuck with more useless plastic stuff that we will have to throw away. It makes me so cross!
So I would recommend either (1) not buying these, or (2) contacting whomever you bought these from when they are 11 months old and lying, so you get a brand new set. Or (3) a holiday in the US to buy some batteries. It's a crazy solution, but there you have it.

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Comment on OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight – Orange/Fuchsia by JB

JB — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:10:15 +0000

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Expensive, but you get what you pay for.(See update 1+2), 10 Nov 2010

JB (Chudleigh, Devon) -

This review is from: OXO Candela Double Tooli Nightlight - Orange/Fuchsia (Kitchen & Home)

I've wanted to buy these for my daughter for ages, then the price dropped and bingo! They seem to last more than the eight hours suggested: we've had a good ten hours of light so far. The lights provide a comforting glow and I've found that it's just possible to read a story by holding the light fairly close to the book if you want to avoid having brighter lights on in the bedroom.

My daughter (3 1/2) loves the lights and often falls asleep holding them; she happily plays with them at other times too, just remember to put them back on the charging base!

The lights switch on when removed from the charging base, but also have an on / off switch underneath. They automatically switch off and recharge when back in the base (similar charging system to an electric toothbrush).

They need to be fully charged / discharged a couple of times to condition the batteries and then off you go. The manufacturer recommends the lights are fully discharged every couple of months. There are also instructions for replacing the battery pack. I'm sure the lights come with a two-year guarantee (but I can't find the leaflet at the moment). Anyway, we think they're great.

Oh, and if there is a power cut, the lights switch on!

UPDATE ... Further to 'Tabs' post, I decided to check for battery pack availability, here's the reply from OXO U.K.:

"Thank you for your email, unfortunately the Candela range is being discontinued world wide and we therefore have no stock of the spare battery packs."

So; heavily disappointed and withdraw my recommendation above.

UPDATE 2! ... I tried contacting the U.S. OXO office and after a short email dialogue I was sent replacement battery packs. I suspect this was a a one-off favour, but it was great service and worth reporting here; credit where it's due.

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Comment on Bacheldre Watermill Organic Stoneground Strong 100% Wholemeal Flour 1.5 kg (Pack of 4) by xlac

xlac — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:22:53 +0000

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Lovely!, 22 Dec 2011

xlac -

This review is from: Bacheldre Watermill Organic Stoneground Strong 100% Wholemeal Flour 1.5 kg (Pack of 4) (Grocery)

Just tried this together with their stoneground white flour in my Panasonic breadmaker. For some reason smelt much more like baking bread than when I was using Allison's flour. Price is quite good too, not much more than ASDA organic flour. Used about 20ml extra water for a medium loaf as I'd read that the flour was "thirsty", also used about 5g more butter. Turned out great.

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Comment on Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light by Graham R. Simpson

Graham R. Simpson — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:26:37 +0000

3 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

Not much going on here, 1 April 2011

Graham R. Simpson (Abingdon, England) -

This review is from: Angels of Darkness Demons of Light (Audio CD)

Read good reviews of this and listened to the samples here and they sounded good. But the samples say it all really five long tracks and nothing much happens. Sounds like unfinished backing tracks waiting for some ideas to finish them off.

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Comment on Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light by Lendrick

Lendrick — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:50:21 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Dark yet beautiful, 14 April 2011

Lendrick (London) -

This review is from: Angels of Darkness Demons of Light (Audio CD)

Earth is effectively Dylan Carson, perhaps one of the most unappreciated guitarists of the last decade. The early Earth albums took Black Sabbath riffs and slowed them down to almost stationary, in doing so creating a great music but also inspiring a a genre: Drone, including critical favourites Sunn O))). While some bands sought to be faster and faster, Carson went off in the opposite direction. Earths music is an exercise in restraint - less in this case is definitely more.

The last few Earth albums have seen more light and shade added to the sound with Carson's guitar playing getting more subtle. Angels of Darkness Demons of Light continues in that vein with 4 piece band, Drums (long standing collaborator Adrienne Davies), bass and cello. Not surprisingly the music is at the lower end of the spectrum, instrumentals with repeating patterns, minimalist guitar, slooow dark and brooding - not to everyone's taste - but I love it.

Other main difference this time is a return to longer pieces after the relatively short (under 10 minutes) songs on The Bees Made Honey in the Lions Skull- the title track is 20 minutes long.

Overall so far I've not found it quite as satisfyingly as the last one, but Carson seems to have found a new inspiration in his 40s and is producing some fantastic music

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Comment on The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine by Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:23:32 +0000

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Very complete study of the plants, the doctrine of signature, 16 May 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine (Paperback)

Matthew Wood is recognized world wide as one of the States' most reknown herbalists. His previous book, 7 Herbs: Plants as Healers, was a watershed in teaching herbal healing as a part of toatl wellness. This is continued and enlarged in wonderful detail in this new book .This should be a must read for anyone working in the natural health field or interested in self healing with herbs.

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Comment on The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine by Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:29:56 +0000

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Very useful. Well written., 23 Oct 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine (Paperback)

Best reference for integrating herbal, homeopathic, Native American, and flower essence uses of a plant. Engaging style. Great examples that stick in my mind. History of plant use integrated well with modern usage.

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Comment on The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine by Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:39:27 +0000

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Fantastic., 13 July 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicine (Paperback)

One of the best and most interesting herb books on the market. Matthew Wood's enthusiasm and knowledge mixed with anecdotal tales of friends and patients, makes this book a compelling read.

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Comment on Philips GC3640/02 2400W EnergyCare Steam Iron by cbrynr

cbrynr — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:41:36 +0000

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

A very good choice, 31 Dec 2010

cbrynr (Wales) -

This review is from: Philips GC3640/02 2400W EnergyCare Steam Iron (Kitchen & Home)

Despite buying decent brands a steam iron never seems to last longer than two or three years in my household. When we came to replace the broken one last time we chose this model based partly on user reviews with Amazon, but also based on Which magazine which recently gave Philips irons more `best buys' than any other brand.
In use the Philips doesn't disappoint as it irons really well without much effort, and we seem to save time because there's no need to go over the fabric more than once. It has a good long cable which leaves plenty of room for manoeuvring, and it's good at putting creases in where our other iron couldn't. Before buying we had concerns over the new style steam release handle which produces more steam if you press harder upon it, but in practice this hasn't been an issue at all and we've found that we don't tend to press the handle very much since it manages very well anyway.
There is only one downside to note, and that is the iron seems to be a little bit noisy, most notably when put down between movements. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for longevity but so far we're very pleased with our choice of this iron.

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