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DeepCoveBC Shops & Our Product Reviews
Our Favourite Things and Some Not so Fave

The items below have all been purchased by DeepCoveBC.
We are interested in environmentally-sound, useful and practical products that work well and last a long time. The opinions expressed here are just that, opinions of the DeepCoveBC staff, our product testing grounds are day-to-day
use of these products in our office, our homes, on the trails, or on ourselves.
Please see our note about Recycling at the bottom of the page.



Graffiti Cocktail Shaker Love this, shake it and it sounds like you're revving up the can to tag something. Fun and a pretty darn good shaker too. Find it from MCA Chicago.	Easter Island Ice Cubes Cool ice cubes tray that makes big cubes that won't melt in your drink. Only downside is the silcion tray, flimsy when you're trying to place them into the freezer.	Record Coasters MIssing the vinyl in your life. Bring back records and keep your furniture ring-free. Little but cheesy but hey, nothing wrong with some kitsch around the trailer, we mean house.

	Crocs Flip Flops Hawaii is crazy for crocs and while in Waikiki I needed a new pair of flips bought some white ones. Liked the look but don't like the ridge under the top straps near the toe column - that rubs the top of my foot. They kinda broke in but my foot still gets red there.	Crocs Stylin' Flip Flops My husband, has never worn flip flops (can you imagine!) and he checked them more carefully purchasing a model with arch support. They rubbed him a bit initially but broke in before the end of our trip. FYI Flip flops in Hawaii are called slippers.

Loco Boutique We're vacationing in Hawaii right now and I needed a swim suit and board shorts for my surf lesson. Checked into Loco Boutique for some stylin' threads that are locally made in Hawaii. Good quality and I wanted a swim top that was not a halter and no underwire - they had it. Sweet shopping.	Mac Air When we travel anywhere we still have to work so we need a machine with a working OS. But we also like to look light and cool. Since we don't we got the Mac Air and now we do by association. It is so thin we can almost put it into our New Yorker as a book mark! It's so fast with the solid state hard drive that it's a pleasure to work with. Did we mention how cool we feel with it?	New Yorker We're not much for magazines usually just on vacations. But we got a subscription to the New Yorker and it's fascinating. It's not yet out of mainstream writing, stil hanging on to some predjudices but the writing is brilliant. Only trouble with it is that it's a weekly and packed so it's hard to get novel in between issues.

Asics Gel Kayano We love to run on both pavement and trails and when we tried on these shoes we felt like running forever. Fits a narrow foot ike a glove and has a large toe box (but no too boxy). The gel is cushiony without being soft. This is our second pair of asics and we are very happy with them.	Vitamix 5200 Ooooooooo, we just got the Vitamix 5200 for the office and if you need to find anyone, that's where they are. We got the red version to match our Ducati and it purrs just like it. Veggies and fruit smoothies, soup and our own soy and almond milk - dee-lish. If you are into healthy eating - the wheat grass is sweet - forget a blender, a soy milk maker a wheat grass grinder and a heating pad for soup, one purchase works for it all - and it look stunning! Beauty and Brains at last.	Lumix ZS3 Oh sweet, we wanted a small camera that would fit into our jacket pockets and be ready to take good photos on those days we didn't want to lug the big SLR's around. The Lumix ZS3 is perfect for that task: small, sharp photos, fits your hand well, easly to use menu, and HD video. A great point and shoot that we can all use and hence is always missing from the office shelf.


Loomstate Organic Trench Bought this organic cotton trench coat from Barney's on a trip to San Francisco. Works well with the white JC jeans below. And organic cotton is a perfect choice. Fits well and makes a nice summer coat.	Juicy Couture Jeans Oh I bought a pair of white jeans for the summer beach from Juicy Couture and the fit couldn't be better. They are white patches on white - white on white is my favourite design colouring. The fit is great, skinny but a little loose.	Juicy Couture Jean Leggings Heard about jeggings at Juicy Couture - jean leggings. I was a bit sceptical until I tried them on - so comfy, like pajamas. They look like jeans, don't fit super tight and wear like leggings. And they're not just for kids!


Alfi Coffee Carafe Oooo, we couldn't wait to get this baby into our office kitchen and class up the place. German made, timeless retro design and red! Yes. It was expensive but what price does one put on style and performance. Well, we paid a lot for style because it lacks in pouring performance. What does it take to engineer a proper pour spout - Ikea does it! and for a lot less than the $170+ we paid for this. But it does look good.	Cross Pen We try to use paper as little as possible but sometimes we have to. And we like nice pens. Then we looked at our pens - disposable - why we asked? So we bought some of these Cross pens that use refills. That way we don't throw away the entire pen, we just pop in a refill and recycle the old one. Plus, it helps us to look executive when we meet with the boss - see dog coat below. Update: Lost our beloved pen at the Grand Prix Cycliste, Quebec City. Hope someone picked it up and is using her.	Sony Dream Machine A staff memebr had a earlier version of this alarm clock radio that she lost in a breakup. She really liked it so she bought this one (#ICF-C273) and thought it quite slick. Her favourite feature - the Sleep. But soon the clock started freezing up - no radio, no alarm, no buttons working - no good and very frustrating. She's tried it many times but the freezing keeps happening and now the warranty is up. Be careful of this machine.


Cuisinart Toaster Oven We love toaster oven broilers because you can use them instead of heating up a big oven, and have always liked the Cuisinart brand. So, we purchased the one above and liked it immediately. Then the tray started falling out of the side holders and it got to be a real pain. That's the only problem we have and if it could be fixed and we could stop having to clean up spilled meals, we'd be happy with this model.	RC Dog Coat The real boss of DeepCoveBC is a jacqueline russell terror named Meron and she likes to keep warm on her walks. She's fine when the ball chasing is going on but get a little chilled when her human companions stop and talk and talk and talk to other humans. So, she got this same RC coat as above, fleece-lined, nylon topped, easy velcro closure, reflective tape. We all love it and it also reduces the belly clean up time when in muddy conditions.	iPod Shuffle We had an third generation iPod which was fun, but the thing never held it's charge and that was a real pain. We have just sent in for the Apple Store $45 money voucher. We order a shuffle and it is exactly what we were looking for! It's so small, so light and holds so much - who needs a window? just load up your music or podcasts and pin it to your lapel. Battery lasts forever! Great for travelling or boring meetings.


Apple iMac We love it! Our new 24 inch iMac. It's so big and fast and wonderful - and we're really Windows people. We've always had a Mac in the office but we've decided to take the plunge and get into the Mac scene. With the new Unix OS, how could we resist? We're really techies at heart. But that doesn't stop us from appreciating all the dazzling beauty of the design, the screen and all the fun stuff about a Mac. And the fact that we can always run Windows on it, if we feel the need - well, why buy anything else? Did we mention we love it? Whoops, maybe we should have bought the smaller model. Seems these LCD screens produced for use in computers and tv, etc. aren't very good for the planet. Read this before you buy and decide if you really need it. We still do have our clunky tv set and have no plans to upgrade that.


Now Stevia Extract Like to use a natural sweetening plant that doesn't include any calories and won't give you that sugar high and then low. South Americans having been using it for centuries and we've been using it for years. We carry it everywhere it in our purses or packs. Why haven't you heard about it - the sugar lobby.	Merry Hempsters Vegan Balm We like the Hempsters lip balm and we like to support a business that uses weeds as it's base and is certified organic, and the fact that they make a vegan version makes us very happy, of course. The only thing to watch is that you get a fresh tube. We bought a whole bunch at once and the old ones got hard and unusable.	eyetv 3 A very cool TV tuner for your Mac. Watch, record, playback on your mac or save it to your ipod. We've been using one for over a year now and like the company and the free and worthwhile software updates. And on our new 24 inch iMac the playback is amazing!


Matt and Natt The DeepCoveBC staff is vegan and proud of it. That means we don't eat or wear products made of (flesh, leather) or by (milk, honey, eggs) animals. Matt and Natt make beautiful, high quality bags that embrace the stylin' vegan culture. And, they're a Canadian company - bonus!	Olympus SP 550UZ We are always looking for a digital camera that has a good zoom and is still small enough to carry without a sherpa. We had the earlier version and now we've moved up to this 7.1 mega pixel with it's powerful 18x zoom, 15fps, pre-capture & manual exposure control.	Klean Kanteen Why keep buying water in disposable plastic bottles? Fill up this reusable, lightweight, stainless steel canteen and stop the mountains of plastic going to our landfills. Even if you recycle, not using them is better. Non-leaching & toxin-free - we like that!


Mini Everlite Bright solar powered LED lamp. Attach to any clothing or pack with supplied velcro. Excellent for camping, backpacking, or just using around the house. Now available as a Petzl-like headlamp.	Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Professional inkjet photo printer that prints beautiful colour photos up to 13x19 inches. Stunning. There is a newer version but this one prints just as well according to what we're reading.	LaCie Big Disk Extreme We got the 1TB disk to backup everything! Runs FireWire + USB. Some power issues had it dropping the connection. LaCie sent us a new power supply and that seems to have resolved the issue.


OR Drybag Backpack This Outdoor Research bag is sweet! It's light and packs into nothing - yet carries a lot while functioning as a drybag, comfy daypack and compression sack. External side mesh pockets for h2o, snacks and stuff. We have many bags but wouldn't be without this one.	Herbatint We're big on experimenting with hair colour: from naturals to neons, from salons (good, expensive) to at home colours (cheap, not so good). Herbatint is the best of both worlds. Herb extracts, plant proteins, no ammonia, grey coverage. We use it exclusively now.	Motorola MD7091 Phone Buying this phone was a huge mistake. Pricy, heavy, clunky, terrible interface, answering machine playback awkward, short! battery life on cordless, base phone doesn't always hang up, buzz when using headset on cordless, etc., etc. Should have stayed with Panasonic.


North Face Hot Shot Needed a day pack with a laptop sleeve. This one was well made and comfy: large compartment, front pocket, padded back, tuck-away belt and dual side mesh pockets. Only drag - our 15" Sony laptop was too big for the inner sleeve. Kept it anyway (we pad the computer in the main compartment) but it would have been nice to have a sleeve that fit 15".	Organic Clothing Think you're making a healthy choice wearing cotton, think again. Cotton is one of the most chemically intensive crops to grow and that harms the earth, the water, the farm worker and us. Next time you buy that cotton tee or jeans, ask the store for organic products. Get the word out! Use your consumer dollars to help better the world!	AMO Solution One of our staff who wears contacts and used AMO Complete MoisturePlus was travelling in Central America and got her first ever eye infection. The doctor said it may have been the dust. It was treated but she had 5 painful days. Then back home and more infection. The Canadian doc couldn't explain it. Then our staffer saw the AMO recall. She no longer uses AMO products.

Recycling Electronic Products Don't feed our landfills, return that product for recycling. If you get a bad electronic product that doesn't work, like the Sony Dream Machine, remember to not just throw it out or pass it along to someone who will do that - recycle it. London Drugs London Drugs recycles any brand of electronic products and all packaging for free. The official line is that it must have been originally purchased at a London Drugs, but they do not ask for a reciept or any proof and they've always taken everything we've brought in. We like that store! View the London Drugs recycling policy. Sony Stores Sony stores will also take small electronics back for recycling. (They are supposedly working on taking all products back.) Read their recycling policy.