Travel Tech: Defective Garmin Vivoactive - Welcome To The Wall Of Shame

If you travel as much as I do and are active (walking, hiking, golfing, swimming, etc.), a good activity monitor or smart watch is indispensable. I bought one from Amazon.com a little over a year ago and am I sorry I did.

The Garmin Vivoactive ($179) worked fine for about six months, monitoring sleep and the golf function worked OK. When walking (golf) or during travel (we walk a lot), it kept track of steps and was quite useful, but I use an elliptical trainer for much of my cardio and the Vivoactive was/is totally useless unless your arms are swinging.

After 5-6 months, it quit syncing sleep on a regular basis and a month or two later the golf function stopped working altogether. For golf, it give you basic yardages (front/center/back of green) and keeps score, but that's it. It has difficulty recognizing the golf course you have just arrived at, even with GPS, so you have to remember to sync it via Bluetooth with the Garmin Connect app on your phone, a real pain in the butt.

For the past several months the golf function, one of the primary reasons I bought it, quit working altogether. It can find the course, but when you click on the course you want to play, it starts "downloading data" and "transferring data", but then goes back to the main menu. Once on the course, it sometimes would start working, but FOR THE WRONG COURSE. The course I play has a short Par 4 2nd hole, but the Vivoactive lists the 2nd hole as a Par 5 and the yardage does not work at all.

This "smart" watch is a piece of junk. I wasted $179 for a digital watch when I could have paid $30 and gotten a better Casio with more functions than this thing has now. Garmin came out with the Vivoactive HR just weeks after I bought this garbage, but did not bother telling me that I could have bought an upgraded watch with a heart rate monitor for a little more if I waited a few days. I do not know if the Vivoactive HR is any better than the Vivoactive, but it could not be any worse.

The watch stopped working altogether in July 2017, dead as a doorknob. I will never buy a Garmin product again because of their lack of customer service and the junk they sell. DO NOT BUY A GARMIN VIVOACTIVE!

CombatCritic Gives Garmin and Their Vivoactive 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My "WALL OF SHAME" ... More Bombs Are Better!

One Bomb Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17 - 650,000+ Views A Year

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie - Over  1,890,733 Review And Photo Views

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Title: Travel Tech: Defective Garmin Vivoactive - Welcome To The Wall Of Shame

Key Words: Garmin, Vivoactive, watch, GPS, smart watch, golf, steps, activity, monitor, active, Portland, Oregon, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, product, business, review, Yelp

Translation for Civilians: FUBAR = "Fucked Up Beyond Any/All Repair"

Copyright 2018 - 3rd Wave Media Group, LLC and CombatCritic - All Rights Reserved

TravelTech: Garmin Vivoactive (Vivo = "I Live") Is MortoInactive (Morto = "Dead") ... BOTTOM LINE: DON'T BOTHER!

Garmin Vivoactive "Smart" Watch

If you travel as much as I do and are active (walking, hiking, golfing, swimming, etc.), a good activity monitor or smart watch is indispensable. I bought one from Amazon.com a little over a year ago and am I sorry I did.

The Garmin Vivoactive ($179) worked fine for about six months, monitoring sleep and the golf function worked OK. When walking (golf) or during travel (we walk a lot), it kept track of steps and was quite useful, but I use an elliptical trainer for much of my cardio and the Vivoactive was/is totally useless unless your arms are swinging.

After 5-6 months, it quit syncing sleep on a regular basis and a month or two later the golf function stopped working altogether. For golf, it give you basic yardages (front/center/back of green) and keeps score, but that's it. It has difficulty recognizing the golf course you have just arrived at, even with GPS, so you have to remember to sync it via Bluetooth with the Garmin Connect app on your phone, a real pain in the butt. 

For the past several months the golf function, one of the primary reasons I bought it, quit working altogether. It can find the course, but when you click on the course you want to play, it starts "downloading data" and "transferring data", but then goes back to the main menu. Once on the course, it sometimes would start working, but FOR THE WRONG COURSE. The course I play has a short Par 4 2nd hole, but the Vivoactive lists the 2nd hole as a Par 5 and the yardage does not work at all.

This "smart" watch is a piece of junk. I wasted $179 for a digital watch when I could have paid $30 and gotten a better Casio with more functions than this thing has. Garmin came out with the Vivoactive HR just weeks after I bought this garbage, but did not bother telling me that I could have bought an upgraded watch with a heart rate monitor for a little more if I waited a few days. I do not know if the Vivoactive HR is any better than the Vivoactive, but it could not be any worse.

CombatCritic Gives Garmin and Their Vivoactive 2 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Two Bombs Equates To


Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17 - 650,000+ Views A Year

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie - Over  1,890,733 Review And Photo Views

... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: TravelTech: Garmin Vivoactive (Vivo = "I Live") Is MortoInactive (Morto = "Dead") ... BOTTOM LINE: DON'T BOTHER!

Key Words: Garmin, Vivoactive, vivo, active, smart, watch, activity, monitor, golf, swim, water, resistant, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, product, review, Amazon, Amazon.com

Translation for Civilians: Tango Uniform = "Tits Up" (Dead)

Portland, OR: Cold Food, Apathetic Attitude ... Cha! Cha! Cha!

Cha! Cha! Cha!
5225 N. Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203
North Portland, Portsmouth
Phone number: (503) 802-2262
Website: chachachapdx.com
Prices: $$$$

Now I understand why this place rates just three stars. The food was good, but lukewarm and the staff obviously were more concerned about closing and cleaning up than customers.

I ordered the guacamole and chips ($4.95), a decent (not huge) size of mediocre guac and chips that seemed to be made in house. It is obvious when guacamole is cut with something (Imo, sour cream, tomatoes, etc.) to increase profit and this was, although not bad. Their house salsa was the highlight of the meal, containing all of the ingredients of pico de gallo (tomato, white onion, jalapeño or serrano chile, cilantro, and lime juice) roasted, then blended into a thick, creamy dipping sauce that was absolutely wonderful.

Then came dinner, quickly. When the entrees arrive so quickly, you know they are closing and want to pump out orders as fast as they can so they can clean (which I observed) or the stuff is all prepped and thrown together once ordered. My pet peeve, the server brought my entree before I was less than halfway through my appetizer ... HELLO, CHIPS, SALSA, AND GUACAMOLE ... please let me enjoy them before you bring my food.

In this case, it did not matter because the food was lukewarm, at best, when it arrived. I ordered two tacos ala carte ($3.50 each - one carne asada and one with "mama's braised beef") and a cheese and onion enchilada ($3.75 - with rojo - red - sauce). The enchilada was not cold, but almost, and the cheese inside had barely been melted. The flavor was actually quite good, but would have been much better properly warmed.

It was obvious that clean-up and closing were more important than customers because the cleaning started well before closing time and they turned away a couple that arrived a few minutes after 9pm (closing).

CombatCritic Gives Cha! Cha! Cha! 4 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Four Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Read Chris S.'s review of Cha! Cha! Cha! on Yelp

Title: Portland, OR: Cold Food, Apathetic Attitude ... Cha! Cha! Cha!

Key Words: Cha! Cha! Cha!, cha, Mexican, Portland, Oregon, taco, enchilada, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, menu, product, service, review, Yelp, Zomato, Tabelog

Translation for Civilians: BOHICA = "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again"

Travel Tech: Even DETECTIVE Moto Could Not Solve The Case Of The DEFECTIVE Moto G4

Moto G (4th Gen.) Unlocked - White - 32GB

by Motorola

If you like to travel as much as I do, you know that when you travel internationally, you need an unlocked GSM (system used in most countries beside the U.S.) phone. With an unlocked GSM phone, you can buy a local SIM card and make calls, send texts, and surf the web at much lower prices than your carrier would charge while roaming abroad.

Well, I needed a new phone and had read good reviews about this phone on Amazon and well known tech websites, so being sick and tired of Apple’s products and their lack of customer focus, I decided to sell my iPhone (and soon my Mac) while I could still get $10-$20 for it and bought the Moto G4. Big mistake!

No because I regretted giving up my iPhone, which actually works most of the time, but because the Moto G4 is a piece of garbage. I wasted the first two days loading all of my apps, email accounts, and setting up the phone and it seemed to work ok. You have to swipe up across the screen to get to the password screen, but an easy swipe was not enough and I had to swipe and swipe and swipe even harder for the damn thing to open. If that were not irritating enough, the phone would randomly chime, turn itself on and show me what time it was. The screen is also far too big for my taste and once protected by the clunky case, it reminded me of the "bricks" (a walkie-talkie the size and weight of a brick) we used in the military.

Then, on the third day, the phone decided to turn itself off while I waiting for an important phone call. Then it turned itself back on, but would never boot with the screen turning itself on, then off, then on, then off, etc., etc., etc. I pushed and held the off button for nearly a minute and still nothing happened. After 5-15 minutes, it would finally boot, only to turn itself off again and so on and so forth. Having all of these major problems after just three days, I decided enough was enough.

I was not going to bother with tech support because the phone was obviously seriously flawed, so I went home and hit the "return" button on Amazon. Because I will not buy this model again, I had to also return the clunky case which actually was not that bad.

DO NOT BUY A MOTOROLA MOTO G4!

CombatCritic Gives The Motorola Moto G4 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot, Along With Apple, On My “WALL OF SHAME” … More Bombs Are Better!

One Bomb Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: Travel Tech: Even DETECTIVE Moto Could Not Solve The Case Of The DEFECTIVE Moto G4

Key Words: Travel Tech, Moto, defective Moto G4, G4, G, 4, Motorola, phone, android, smart, smartphone, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, product, review, Yelp, Amazon, amazon.com

Translation for Civilians: FUBAR = "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair"

Boycott Netflix For Prohibiting VPN/Proxy Utilization, Exposing Our Data To Malicious Internet Predators

In a previous post I explained how to access Netflix and other U.S. Internet-based services from foreign countries. Netflix has restricted non-U.S. residents from accessing their service for quite some time. Traveling abroad quite frequently, I wanted to watch Netflix from time to time, but was refused access because I was outside the United States even though I am a paying customer. 

Doing some research, I learned about VPNs while traveling in India last year and how to route my Internet connection through a server in the U.S., giving the appearance that I was stateside and securing my computer and data at the same time. Win-win ... right?

I am no expert, but the way I understand it, a VPN (Virtual Private Network) routes your connection through a secure server, encrypting your data and ensuring your privacy while using the Internet:

"VPNs can provide functionality, security and/or network management benefits to the user" -  Mason, Andrew G. (2002). Cisco Secure Virtual Private Network. Cisco Press. p. 7.

That server can be anywhere in the world and, in most cases, you have the choice of the location (country) your connection will be routed through.

I purchased a VPN account through Cloak for $99 a year, giving me access to my Netflix account in foreign countries (with zero English language television shows) while ensuring my data was secure while using risky hotel and public Internet connections. It worked quite well in India (October 2014 - February 2015) and in Italy (May 2015 - August 2015). Then, suddenly, Netflix started blocking customer access for anyone using a VPN or proxy ... anywhere, including the United States!

Netflix now requires paying customers to disable VPNs and proxies in order to access our accounts and stream video, exposing our computers and data to hackers and other malicious individuals at home and abroad. I understand that Netflix is probably restricted from selling their service to non-U.S. customers for one reason or another, but why can't a U.S. citizen and paying customer stream Netflix video wherever we may be?

I think it's time to share our dismay with this absurd Netflix policy by organizing a planned mass boycott effective January 1st, 2017 unless they change their policy and allow paying customers to use our VPNs and proxies while simultaneously streaming video and securing our data.

If you concur with my opinion and concerns, please contact me by sending me an email to:

BoycottNetflixJanuaryFirst2017@gmail.com 

with your first name and the first letter of your last name (e.g. Chris S), the city and state in which you reside, and a statement of commitment:

I, first name and initial of your last name (e.g. Chris S), hereby commit to a boycott of Netflix effective January 1, 2017, cancelling my services on that date unless Netflix changes their policy regarding the use of VPNs and proxies by paying customers NLT December 15, 2016.

I will create a post on this blog, listing committed participants by first name and last initial, city, and state, notifying Netflix intermittently via Twitter as to the number of boycott participants and effective date of the boycott.

PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAIL, copying and pasting the above statement into the body of the message along with any other comments/concerns you have regarding Netflix and their services, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to:

BoycottNetflixJanuaryFirst2017@gmail.com 

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @CombatCritic and "Like" and "Retweet" my Netflix notifications regarding the boycott and number of participants. You can also "Like" my Facebook page where I will also be posting updates once this movement gets off the ground. Let's let Netflix know that "we're mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more!". 

I look forward to hearing from you and restoring our internet security while enjoying the streaming video we pay Netflix to provide us.

Respectfully,

Chris S

aka CombatCritic

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: Boycott Netflix For Prohibiting VPN/Proxy Utilization, Exposing Our Data To Malicious Internet Predators

Key Words: Netflix, netflix.com, streaming, video, VPN, virtual, private, network, proxy, server, encryption, security, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, product, service, Yelp, encrypt

New Delhi, India: Superb Coffee, Fair Pasta, Excellent Value … Just Off Main Bazaar

Cafe Festa

1832 Laxmi Narain Street (Just Off Main Bazaar)

Chuna Mandi, Paharganj, New Delhi 110055, India

Phone: +91-112-358-8000

Prices: $$$$

I found Café Festa and decided to give them a try after reading numerous “rave” reviews, mostly by Americans. The restaurant is just a few blocks from the Ramakrishna Ashram Marg Metro station (opposite end from the train station) on a street just parallel to Main Bazaar. It was easy to find using Google Maps and because of the good signage in front. It has a clean, open, modern feel with a couple tables out front, a small dining area as you walk in, and a larger area downstairs. The waiters, and I use that archaic term only because there are no female servers in India as far as I can tell, speak passable English and are attentive and efficient. I was seated quickly.

The menu is thick with numerous beverage options, including coffees, teas, shakes and other local concoctions as well as vegetarian breakfasts, appetizers, pastas, pizzas, sandwiches, and Chinese dishes in addition to several savory options from India.

I was in the mood for something Italian, so I went with the spaghetti and vegetables (broccoli and olives) in a creamy garlic sauce. I thought that American restaurants unnecessarily drown their pasta in sauce, but this dish was closer to a soup than an authentic pasta dish. It was a decent size and accompanied by two pieces of what I thought to be Italian bread (by the shape), but had the consistency of Wonder Bread. The flavor was good, with a tad too much garlic, even for my taste, but could have used a lot less sauce, more broccoli, and a little more parmesan cheese. No bad.

Along with the pasta I had a Diet Coke, nearly impossible to find in Delhi along with other diet soft drinks, and a liter of water and the bill came to just under 300 rupees (about $4.80). Cheap by American standards for a decent meal in a sit-down restaurant.

Having become disenchanted with my hotel’s rooftop restaurant, I decided to try their coffee the next morning. I went for the “grande” Café Latte (95 Rupees - $1.55), an excellent value compared to Starbucks and their “regular” (80 Rupees - $1.30). The regular comes in a normal size cup and saucer, but the grande is probably twice the size with two shots of espresso. The presentation was nice with just the right foam to milk ratio and a nice leaf pattern made on top of the foam. The coffee was just hot enough not to scald the tongue and delicious. I can honestly say that I have not had a better latte in a long time, in the U.S. or in Italy for that matter.

If you are looking for a reasonably priced meal or drink in an area not abundant with clean, modern facilities, Café Festa is the place for you.

CombatCritic Gives Café Festa 7 Bombs Out of 10 … MORE BOMBS ARE BETTER!

Seven Bombs Equates To:

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie





... And Don't Forget To Subscribe To TravelValue TV on YouTube

Title: New Delhi, India: Superb Coffee, Fair Pasta, Excellent Value … Just Off Main Bazaar

Key Words: Cafe Festa, cafe. festa, CombatCritic, Delhi Coffee, Main Bazaar, menu, new, New Delhi, pasta, product, restaurant, review, service, Tabelog, travel, TravelValue, value, Yelp, Zomato

Translation for Civilians: S&G = "Shits & Grins"